


𝚁𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎 (SMR x Black Clover)

by CrispCrasp



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Eventual Relationships, F/M, M/M, Multi, Reader-Insert, Seme Male reader, Slow Burn, male reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:20:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29493456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrispCrasp/pseuds/CrispCrasp
Summary: "I hate you- so much""Should I give you a reward for realizing it?"- - - - - - - - - - - -(Y/n) (L/n) is the kind of person who has always just grown up with some difficulties communicating properly, often keeping a deadly quiet that made him seem unapproachable, because he was.His childhood being a constant reminder at the back of his head that he, indeed, does not have anything in sort for his future. From being picked up by a prostitute as a baby, to growing up in a abusive orphanage later on, and ending with the bad luck and seeming curse following him.But when he makes a promise with the one he wished to love, he's forced into a spiral of emotions and the regret.His promise is running off, and he just has to catch up to it.And maybe while on his journey to fulfill said promise, he'll meet some people that help change his opinion on himself.- - - - - - - - - - - -SMR x Black Clover!⚠️Possible manga spoilers later on, mature themes, abuse, prostitution, corruption ect.⚠️Errors are being fixed as time goes on!
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

"Leave us alone"

(Y/n)'s grip on the doorway tightened, this whole orphanage wasn't what he expected. . .

it's only been a year since he was picked up by them, and he's hated it so far. 

They were all so stuck up, the care takers took priority to the kids that showed promise to the future, the ones that seemed to have some sort of royal blood or powerful mana.

(Y/n) was just a orphan.

No royal blood, no strong bonds, no powerful or strong mana, and yet to even develop his magic yet even if he was 7 now.

The man who sat in his room surrounded by women was. . . one of the caretakers, Nickolas or Nick for short. 

A fan favorite for most of the children since he was so upbeat and flirty, entertaining the youngers and even to extent the older children. But not (Y/n), he was disgusted by him, how he treated the women like objects, how he treated him, how he seemed to have such a grudge against him.

Even if he were a nobody, (Y/n) wasn't willing to stoop to Nick's level.

It was weak

". . . I just wished to say good night sir, I'll be leaving then" (Y/n) closed the door, walking back down the hallway. 

This whole orphanage was rather large, set in the outskirts of the region itself, near the diamond kingdom's boarder which meant that the orphans sometimes held promising blood from the rival kingdom.

(Y/n) though, was just a kid they had found by the street. He had been surviving alone by stealing and odd jobs by villagers, always traveling to make sure he wouldn't be caught.

When they found him, he had been resting and offered refuge in the orphanage, at the moment he was in a tough spot with some of the village officials after him due to witnessing him stealing food, so he accepted.

To this day he regretted it, maybe living in jail might've been better than being stuck in this hierarchy of a orphanage. In which he was looked down upon for not being promising.

This wasn't a family, this was it's own small society, in which everyone with promise sat down at the table to eat dinner together while (Y/n) was thrown out of the house to not 'annoy' them at that time, eating outside.

Opening the door to his room, he walked downstairs to the basement and sighed as he fell against the torn up mattress that he was able to scavenge after the orphanage tried to throw out. The exhaustion from that day sitting in, he hated living here, from the abuse by the other orphans and caretakers, the classism, the goddamn hatred the villagers had for him, and all the anger that seemed to simmer inside himself.

The loud locking of the basement door echoing through the cold floor as the light disappeared.

.  
.  
.

"Get up!" 

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" (Y/n) punched the other orphan against the face, arms burning from the flames Noah had shot him when he tried to block them.

"YOU- YOU DARE TRY TO TALK BACK?! UNLIKE YOU I HAVE MORE OF A FUTURE AND YET YOU TRY TO ACT SO HIGH AND MIGHTY?!" Noah spat some blood out of his mouth and grabbed (Y/n) by the neck, being older by a few years had it's perks, kneeing him in the stomach as (Y/n) coughed out blood from the previous injuries being hit.

Nick watched from the window, scoffing as Emiliana watched aswell, smiling softly at the sight of their most promising teaching their most hated his place. 

(Y/n) gritted his teeth, he hated this place

so what if he never knew his parents? what if he didn't have any mana or magic? what if he had grown up in the barracks with slut who took him in? SO WHAT IF HE DIDN'T HAVE A FUTURE?!

"Kick him harder Noah, he's still resisting" Emiliana called out through the window, laughing as Noah's smile widened and dropped (Y/n) to the ground, stomping on his back and his head as (Y/n) yelled out in pain.

He had no way of leaving this orphanage, the officials of the village wouldn't allow him and he didn't have any advantage to escape, he couldn't outrun them, he was locked in the basement at night, the day time he was mostly tasked to watch the younger kids or would get beaten by the care takers, his future really was dim.

.  
.  
.

That didn't stop him though, willing to die for his freedom was his only motivation for now.

.  
.  
.

"WHERE DID HE GO?!"

"WE LOST HIM!"

"OFFICERS, (Y/N)- WHERE IF HE?!"

The whole orphanage was in craze after not finding (Y/n) cooking in the morning for breakfast, he was missing, all his things were left behind though, where was he? he was only 9, where could he be?

From far away, (Y/n) cried out loudly, large tears falling from his face with a inhuman smile that grew on his face in happiness. He made it, he escaped!!

It took him a whole 2 years to plan it out, but he was gone, and he had to move fast unless he wants the village officials to find him.

Getting back up on shaky legs, he ran, ran as fast as he could, he couldn't bring anything, it would drag him down, but he was free now, his body may be burning and aching badly from the wounds he received in that orphanage, but he was free, after so long!! 

He couldn't care no more if he died now

not by their hands,

not by anybody's hands,

if he must, he'll die by his own!

HE'S FREE

A bubbly lively laugh left from hin as he screamed out happily while running, stumbling every so often before getting back up on messy legs and running even faster.

Gasping for air as he screamed and picked up the pace,

god he had forgotten what it was like to breath in fresh early morning air from traveling.

"FUCK THIS LIFE, FUCK EVERYTHING, HAHA!! FUCK THIS UNIVERSE" He yelled out, smiling widely, screaming out all his hatred in laughter as he ran, the air crisp from the sun just starting to come out. 

The clearing of the forest appearing before him as he bolted down the path, coming face to face with a large open valley, the sight of a small village in the distance making him feel a sense of relief, atleast he could get directions for his next travel.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled, tears dried on his cheeks as the smile on his face started to hurt, hands shaking from excitement

(Y/n) (L/n) the no named orphan was free


	2. - Bio -

Name: (Y/n) (L/n)

Age: 19

Personality: He is often seen as to being cold and reserved, not saying much and keeping quiet. Though he may not always show it, he grows irritated and irked easily when people start yelling or are just generally loud. 

But when he calms down and seems to be in his element, he'll be a bit more social and teasing, opening up more and welcoming. He by no means is always rude, forward and blunt, he just doesn't like to play all too buddy-buddy with people.

Physical: Tall 5'11 to 6'0ft, broad shoulders, lean muscles (not bulging or skinny, decently proportioned) and small random scars litter his body from his childhood abuse. 

Likes:✔  
\- Early Mornings and Late nights   
\- Fruits (Apples, pears, kiwi, ect.)  
\- Architecture, Art, and plants (since he can't read properly, he takes enjoyment from the more visual things)  
\- Slow Dancing 

Dislikes:❌  
\- Loud peaople/constant yelling, Entitled people  
\- Counting with currency (he gets confused since he didn't learn how to add and subtract properly while younger)  
\- Most music (he dislikes music from pubs, villages, and festivals from how loud they are, it feels overwhelming. Though he enjoys singular music or calmer ones, he's a fan of slower songs)  
\- Roses (the thorns seem to grow whenever he tries to grab one, pricking his hands often due to it)

Backstory:   
(Y/n) was an abandoned orphan, his mother and father nowhere to be seen as he was left in a box to presumably die. But a local woman from the pub took the small baby in, naming him '(Y/n)' and giving him her last name. She was infertile, so this was a blessing for her, even if she spent her nights amusing men and giving them her body, she always returned home soon to see her new son sleeping soundly.

One day though, one of her clients got a little too aggressive while drunk and ended up slamming her head against the wall, killing her from a concussion as 6 year old (Y/n) watched from fear in the doorway.

Thrown out of the apartment, he was left to wonder the land, soon to find himself in a small town in which an orphanage offered to take him in. With no place to go, he agreed and ended up with too much from what he asked.

The orphanage had a system, in which the most promising of the kids would be treated kindly and like royals while the ones who showed no future from their lack of noble blood, features, strange mana, or lack of abilities were the outcasts of them all. And at the very bottom sat (Y/n), a kid who had yet to even gain any sort of magic, someone with no parents or signs of noble blood, and a son of a whore.

He spent 2 years in abuse and escaped at the age of 9 from the village, spending the next 10 wondering the land borders.

  
Love Interests💓:

**Asta**  
"(Y/n)! do you want to go see around the city tonight? I heard that a stall will be selling tatos!"

**Yuno**  
"Did you receive the letter I sent you? you haven't yet? forget about it"

-

**Noelle**  
"You're such an idiot, I can't believe your attitude some days!"

**Magna**  
"Damn (Y/n)! setting my heart a blaze, get it? was it too cheesy?"

**Finral**  
"W-what do you mean you'd take me out on a date? Don't go getting all hopeful! I'm reserved for the ladies!" 

**Luck**  
"It's been ages since we've fought (Y/n), loser pays for the other's dinner!"

**Yami**  
"You'll be the death of me, I swear, stop getting into so much trouble"

**Grey**  
"(Y-Y/n)! d-do you. . . um- maybe w-want to go out and- A-AND SEE THE FIREWORKS?!"

**Gauche**  
"CAREFUL WITH MY DAMN MIRROR, I LET YOU SEE MARIE AND NOW YOU THREATEN TO BREAK MY MIRROR! STOP TEASING ME YOU BRAINLESS DOOF"

**Zora**  
"So. . . you're awfully quiet, huh? I like that in a person, but don't take it- like that. . . stop looking at me like that"

**Natch**  
"Oi, there is no need for violence. Relax a little, there is no need to sock somebody across the building"

-

**Leopold**   
"(Y/n), do you think we could train together again? Last time I had fun, especially after brother ran after us!"

**Fuegoleon**   
"Do you. . . worry so much on your past? there is no need to, you're free now, I'll make sure of it- don't call me sappy"

**Mereleona**   
"Stop qua- ARE YOU INSULTING ME?! WHY YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE SOME GUTS TO SAY SUCH SHIT!"

-

**William Vengeance**   
"Darling? why- why would you ever call me tha- Oh! to tease? that sounds awfully intimate don't you think?"

**Klaus**  
"Stop being so unprofessional (Y/n)" *grumble grumble*

**Mimosa**  
"Aaah! don't be so reckless (Y/n)! you'll get hurt again!"

-

**Nozel Silva**  
"Tch, I still can't believe a peasant like you can still walk around with such pride"

**Nebra Silva**  
"Hmph, watch your tounge when you speak to us next time, after all we ARE royalty"

**Solid Silva**  
"You curse far too much, putrid rats tounge from the borders? no wonder you- H-HEY! STOP WALKING AWAY"

-

**Rill**   
"You already look like a master piece- I MEAN YOU LOOK LIKE YOU COULD BECOME THE MASTER TO PEACE HAHA-"

-

**Patri**   
"You human are. . . all so strange, you've stood out the most (Y/n)"

**Licht**  
"My eyes? . . you think they're pretty? oh my- well. . . thank you" 

**Rhya**  
"What are you- OI, STOP SHAKING ME I'M TRYING TO SLEEP"

-

**Mars**  
"I- I apologize in advance if I step on your feet, I'm not that good of a dancer"

**Fana**  
"You like the tune I'm singing? ah, there's no need to help cleaning up! I can handle it!"

**Gaja**  
"Far too spoiled, I'm supposed to be on guard and here you are distracting me"

-

**Zennon**  
". . . You want to hold my hand? I'm- . . . don't swing it around, it gets annoying when you do. . ."

  
(I need suggestions- just spew them- I have no clue who else to add-)


	3. - Early Goodbye -

It's been 10 years now since his escape, (Y/n) had gained part of his mana that didn't seem. . . to manifest physically

Obviously, he wasn't blessed with any fire powers or hints of royal blood like the other orphans, so he didn't really expect much.

He's never had a real care to dig into his abilities and figure out what he could do. . . his goal was just to survive, not become the wizard king like many.

Even though, he's learnt through his travels that his mana was actually seemingly connected to the dead side if nature. Where the dried plants seemed to cheer for him, in which the poisonous rattle snaked curled up against him happily, how the thunderstorm yelled out in agreement, or when the cracked and dying ground seemed to crack in understanding under his feet, how the dying animals smiled stunned him one last time when he passed by.

He didn't know how to feel about it.

Seeing everything that would be deemed 'evil' and 'the decayed' love him. . . was odd, sometimes uncalled for when he walked down the dying paths just for the thorn bushes to florish and grow monstrously or when he had to stare down a bird dying before his eyes as it chirped weakly and fell limp.

At first he was unsure what was going on, he thought it was all bad luck or even a curse of sorts that followed him around. But after tampering a bit and sitting down to try it out, he learnt that he could make the dying side of nature florish. It was somewhat terrifying, but he soon learnt to slowly accept it.

After all, he was a nobody with no future, so what if he was bonded with something so deadly? it's not like he was needed, why worry if it brought his death?

"You should get your grimoire (Y/n)!"

"Eh, don't care too much about it" (Y/n) hummed, uninterested as the bartender who he grew acquainted with sighed "Come ooonnnn, it'll be cool! we could be grimoire buddies! travel to the capital for the magic knights exams!"

"Don't care" (Y/n) repeated himself, taking another sip of his drink.

Recently he had settled down a bit in a small village on the border to gain some money through both odd jobs and light pick pocketing of passerbys who walked through the village. In theese few weeks, he had made a 'friend', who was the bartender of the local tavern, a boy his age who had yet to get his grimoire from being too anxious of going alone.

"Pleaasseeeee!!" Dai begged, lowering his head a bit as he clasped his hands together "You're the only one I trust to go with, I'm too scared to ask the elders to accompany me- you know how they're like" Dai shivered a bit at the memory of his mistake from last year.

"I said I don't care about my grimoire, I'm just trying to get by, not become a mighty knight" (Y/n) placed his drink down gently, leaning against his elbow in slight amusement from Dai's desperation.

"It's magic knights! not mighty knights!" Dai corrected, sighing and dropping his head ". . . you're mocking them, aren't you?"

"Oh no no no, **I just find them repulsive."**

"(Y/nnnnnn) please though, for me?"

"Dai, I'm not going to babysit you to just get some flimsy book" (Y/n) bittered

The brunette pouted in response.

🔖

After some persuasion, (Y/n) was convinced to help Dai out in return of a new compass to continue his travels.

They had to travel to the neighbouring village to receive their grimoires, which wasn't too much of a hassle since the path was already marked out.

Dai was ecstatic, excited for the travel and the fact he was leaving the village!

"(Y/n), (Y/n) this is awesome!" He giggled, running ahead to stop and wait for his partner who walked calmly down the path.

A simple hum of disinterest was the reply

As the giant skull came into view, Dai picked up his pace and seemed to run towards the village, a wide grin on his face.

(Y/n) followed behind, walking because he didn't feel a need to get his grimoire unlike Dai who was bouncing about.

The tower at the side side slowly filling up with people from all around, Dai bounced at the entrance waiting for (Y/n) to catch up. Both entering into the large tower like building, faces from the nearby littered the room, from nobles, to the peasants of the village.

(Y/n) kept quiet as Dai blended into the crowd to probably reach the front, deciding to stay in the back to avoid any looks for his more rugged appearance.

"So many peasants" A dirty blonde whispered to his companion with a smug smirk, rich clothing explaining by just their appearance that he was a noble.

"Look at him! he looks so dreamy" One of the girls seemed to fangirl, (Y/n) trying to look who she was pointing at to see a rather tall teen with black hair and piercing yellow eyes.

They made eye contact, (Y/n) kept his gaze uninterested as the teen in question gave a nervous look before going back to waiting for the wizard master to arrive and start the ceremony.

"Tch" He bittered, god he already hated how crowded it was.

"WELCOME YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN" The booming voice caught everyone's attention, turning to the old wizard master who stood on the podium "You each will begin walking down a new path starting today, I wish you faith, hope and love.

I am the master of this grimoire tower, we haven't had a wizard king from this area, nor have we had one achieve greatness by joining the magic knights-

I SINCERELY WISH THAT SOMEONE AMONG YOU WILL BECOME THE WIZARD KING- I'M SERIOUS HERE"

'Fuck, he looks constipated' (Y/n) thought, eyeing the wizard who was now leaning over his podium anxiously, as if begging the crowd to grow to be something great.

"Now it is time for the awarding of the grimoires!"

The books on the shelves started to glow, flying out and into the hold of many.

"This is my grimoire!" A girl said happily,

"Mine's bigger!"  
"Mine's thicker!" A pair of teens argued over their grimoires.

(Y/n) waited patiently, after all he didn't care if he got his, it wouldn't change anything really.

He watched as Dai's flew down to him, the brunette's blue eyes widening happily as he grabbed it. Turning to (Y/n) who nodded at him, giving him a small thumbs up from his crossed arms as he smiled widely.

"Um-. . . .

My grimoire's not coming."

(Y/n) looked up to see a short kid in the middle of the room with his arms wide open, awaiting his grimoire.

"Uh. . . . try again next year" The wizard king replied

"WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?"

The whole room bursted out laughing, (Y/n) kept quiet as the laughter turned to gasps.

The same boy from earlier had a four leaf clovers grimoire in hand, looking indifferent as he turned to the zhorter teen and said "I'll become the wizard king"

 **"Weak"** (Y/n) muttered under his breath, god he was starting to grow sick of all this talk over the wizard king.

The pair broke into an argument as the taller seemed to whisper something before walking off, passing by (Y/n) to meet eyes with him again.

A creeping cold grew in the room, causing a few to shiver, no one paying attention as a grimoire slowly phased through the ground, quiet, silently as (Y/n) grabbed it an eyed the front to see that didn't have any clover.

Without a word, he slipped the book into his holster, something was wrong with said book, he just knew it, but he didn't ask anything else on it. He was cursed since the beginning, why question it? maybe later, but not now.

Dai came running towards him, smiling as (Y/n) stopped him by flicking his forehead.

"Look look!" He shoved his grimoire into (Y/n)'s face while walking out "Alright, alright"

.  
.  
.

"Will. . . you be taking the magic knights exam?" Dai asked quietly as they sat under a tree, watching the stars.

"Not a chance, couldn't give two shits"

". . . but why not protect the wizard king? become their right hand man? wouldn't you like that?"

"Nope" (Y/n) replied again,

"Let's make a promise then!"

". . . why?"

"Why? Well. . . you're one of the only people who I really trust. . . and I want to become the wizard king and for you to be there!" Dai chimed with a smile "I may not know what you've gone through since you don't trust me, but I want you to be with me, I've enjoyed your company theese weeks and wish we can help this land grow, for the village to become more welcoming, that we can all live peacefully" Dai gently touched (Y/n)'s hand, his smile softening. Grabbing the (s/c) one in his pale one, gently holding his index and middle finger in his hand. His long brown hair falling out of his ponytail a bit as a few strands framed his face along with bangs.

(Y/n) was caught off guard, was Dai serious?

His chest felt bubbly, eyes looking into Dai's who bit his bottom lip nervously as he averted eye contact "I-I just. . . only if you want to. . ."

"I'd love to" (Y/n) said breathily, reaching his hand out and tucking a stray strand of brown hair behind Dai's ear "So annoying, pulling me into theese schemes of yours"

Dai's face lit up in red, embarrassed as he scoffed and looked away "I don't pull you into them, you just kind of make your way into them" He gave a small laugh as (Y/n) reached down and tilted his head up lightly to peck his lips.

The kiss being gentle and warm, Dai slowly sitting up and moving to sit in (Y/n)'s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck as he felt arms wrap around his hips, pulling him in a bit more.

The pair pulled away with small smile, (Y/n)'s smile catching Dai's breath away.

"My right hand man, (L/n) (Y/n) doesn't sound too bad eh?" Dai said with a small gasp, catching his breath again.

"Wizard King Dai doesn't sound too bad either" (Y/n) teased in return.

🔖

(Y/n) looked down, Dai's corpse on the ground of the inn as his gaze ran back up to the face he wished to never see again.

**"Noah"**

". . . (Y/n)?" Noah was shocked, though it didn't last long as he felt something suddenly stab through his stomach.

Coughing out blood, he slowly looked down just to see nothing, but looking back up to (Y/n) who was clenching his hand in his direction.

A inhuman smile crashed onto his face, one of both pain and satisfaction as he clasped his hand down completely.

Noah felt his stomach be crushed from the inside as he fell to the ground, dead.

The blood in the room having painted the previous brown carpet a hot messy red.

(Y/n)'s hand shakily reaching down to Dai, moving the brown hair out of his face to see his blue eyes cold and faded. The stab wound in his shoulder, chest and stomach staining onto his clothes.

"(Y-y/n). . ." Dai said breathily, eyes unfocused and clouded from the blood loss, a hand gently caressing his cheek as he felt droplets of tears fall against his face.

"H-hey. . . don't cry. . ." the brunette reached out and held (Y/n)'s cheek weakly in return, coughing and wincing at the wounds.

"I'll take you to the nearest hospital- Dai- please just hold on" (Y/n) desperately tried to stop the blood that kept seeping out no matter what he did.

"(Y/n). . . . the nearest medic is in our village. . . a week's journey, you won't. . . m-make it" Dai's voice faded.

(Y/n)'s hand held onto the one on his cheek, "No- stay a little longer, please- darling I-I can't, I don't want you to leave, please, stay with me" (Y/n)'s voice broke as Dai gave a small, feeble smile in return.

". . . remember our promise. . . please? I want you. . . to live the best. . if I couldn't be by your- side, then make it on your own. . ." Dai cracked up, tears trailing down his own face "I-I'm so scared right now. . . I don't want to leave you (Y/n), I love you- so so. . . much"

"You don't have to, keep strong, I-"

"(Y/n). . . love, please. . . promise me"

His face softened again, ". . . I promise, I'll become a magic knight and protect the next wizard king in your honor. . . I love you, Dai" (Y/n) felt as Dai's hold on his cheek finally faltered, the hand falling to his side and onto the carpet as Dai smiled one last time.

Whispering quietly, "I love you too. . . (Y/n)"

The silence in the room became unbearable as (Y/n) screamed out.

"FUCK, DAI!" He hiccuped

Hands shaking as he held his now dead lover.

Only a month was left to the magic knights exam, and too soon for Dai to leave,

and he was torn.

🔖

After rummaging through Noah's body, he found out that he was working in the black market and was tasked with stealing some valuables (from a small task book in his bag).

Sadly, Dai was one of the victims to his assaults, which made him bitter.

". . . damn it" his grip on the slip of paper tightened, it was already 4 weeks since the incident, and he was making his way to the magic exams.

Not excited, but his goal was written in stone now.

For Dai, he was going to do this.

It may come with his downfall, but he was willing to die now more than ever.

He had no clue what was going on with any of the other people from the orphanage, whether he'd see them at the exams, or meet them in the magic knights, but he couldn't care over them.

Let them die, his only wish to reach his goal. For how long he'd stay there at the top? he wasn't sure, but he'd figure that out when he got there.

\- - - - - - - - -  
2400 words  
unedited

gotta love creating fanfics on whim, huh?


	4. - Magic Knights Exam -

The weeks worth of travel to the capital was by no means anything new to (Y/n), having had done this for countless years before.

Passing through the desserts, forests, valleys, mountain sides and rocky terrain all felt like second nature.

What would be new though, would be arriving to the capital itself. He had never gone to highly densed cities or bigger towns in the center, always worried if he somehow stuck out or he'd be caught up in unwanted attention.

Thoose 6 months, he spent 5 of thoose helping Dai train with his grimoire while he would train by his self at night. Never willing to sit down to figure out what his grimoire really was, he knew it was bad news, but fear that if he even opened it would lead to even worse.

Dai's death gave him the push to open the book, coming face to face with only black empty pages. Strange messy writings sometimes littered on pages, as if whoever was writing in was desperate to get their point across in terror, in a rush for whatever reason.

His first thoughts on the book was exactly what he was anticipating, the grimoire surely wasn't anything holy or from the clover. With a clear cover and back, the leather on it was hand made, clearly nothing made like any of the other books. Well, just another little quirk of his he guessed.

So during the travel, (Y/n) hasn't touched up on his grimoire, it had no spells and gave him a bad feeling anyways. The book didn't glow, shimmer or even react the entire week and a half trip, nothing out of the ordinary.

When the sight of the capital came into view, (Y/n)'s face grew cold again, disgust sitting in from looking at all the people, god he hated this. The place was already loud and he hadn't even set foot in the city, from the hills he could hear the yells and cheers to the candidates for the exam.

Heading down the path, he walked through the capital's entrance, shoving a random civilian out of the way when they didn't move out of his way.

"HEY!"

The man yelled back as he dropped his basket of apples on the ground, (Y/n) just eyed him from the corner of his sight before continuing wordlessly.

"You alright sir?!" he heard the call of a rather loud dirty blonde as the short stack ran towards the man, helping to pick up the apples.

(Y/n) recognizing him as the same kid from the grimoire ceremony, along with the taller one who glared at him as he walked by. Glaring back in reply and bumped him out of the way against his shoulder, he had no care of them, his goal was straight ahead, and he had no time to play goody goody with Mr.Four-leaf-clover and short ass.

The large arena came to view as he kept walking ahead, the entrance marked out with the ropes that divided the crowd and the participants. Many waved as they walked in as the civilians cheered them on, (Y/n) scoffed, time ticking as he forced his way between the participants and into the entrance of the arena where he had to sign in.

The line being rather long, but (Y/n) had no way to really change that so waited simply, the line going a bit faster as time passed.

15 minutes later he was at the front, placing his grimoire down as the checker gave him an odd look, "Um- sir, is this a regular book? I can't see the clover"

"I covered it up after it got in the way with my spells" (Y/n) lied, with his harsh tone it seemed to do the job as the checker simply nodded quickly and added him to the list "174 is your id"

And with that, the (h/c)-ette took the book and holstered it back to his side holder. Walking off into the arena and entering through the gate way,

the sight before him surprising him a bit at the sight of the sheer amour of birds.

Spotting the shorty and four-leaf in the middle, shorty being chased by the birds as he screamed out and some other blonde laughed, mr.four-leaf without any birds around him, gaining some whispers.

The arrived sooner, probably walked in while he wasn't looking and got into a shorter line if they got there earlier.

"Look. . . no birds are around him! wow!" One of the girls said with a small gasp

"He must be crazy strong!" Another added on,

"W-woah, his mana is incredible if he's not a single bird is around him!"

So that was the deal? huh, (Y/n) hummed as he slipped his hands into the pockets on his pants, eyeing the crowd as he kept himself in the back. Not a single bird flew to his direction- well- one did try to test the waters. . .

(Y/n) snapped his gaze towards it, watching it fall to the ground and shrivel up at a rapid pace, squawking out weakly as it died before (Y/n).

"T-THE BIRD!!" A girl screamed out, shrieking as she stepped back at the sight of the dying bird at her foot, catching the attention of a couple people.

Eyes turned to his direction where the dead bird shrivelled up and soon was only thin meat and bone, (Y/n) scoffed and walked over, placing his foot on it and stepping down on the now dead bird forcefully as steam evaporated the rest of it's meat, leaving a broken skull and carcus.

". . . T-there's no birds around him. . ."

"No- it-, it died before it even got close enough to taste his mana-"

"What?! that's crazy?!"

**"Pay attention to the program"**

(Y/n) said bitterly to the few who looked his way, placing a finger at his lip in a way of saying 'shut the fuck up'

The few 5 or 6 people quickly got the memo and fell quiet and went back to looking at the front.

The girl who previously stood near him left running to the front in fear, the bones of the bird still residing on the ground as (Y/n) pulled his foot off of it's head.

A sudden scream made (Y/n) look back up to see the short stack being held up by his head. . . a much taller and stronger man looking as if he were close to tossing him across the territorial border. Exchanging loud yells to one another as the dirty blonde tried to get out of the taller's grip.

This was funny,

atleast to (Y/n)-

the other 2 who wore the same black overcoat seemed nervous, trying to disarm the arguement.

A large flock of birds coming from the front made everyone turn heads,

"Thanks for waiting, invited examinees"

At the top of the arena where the podiums where placed, the captains to the magic knights walked forth as the cheers grew in the crowd.

(Y/n) couldn't recognize even one of them, but everyone was else was screaming out for them.

"I'm going to be in charge of the exams this year"

"IT'S THE CAPTAIN OF THE STRONGEST MAGIC   
KNIGHTS SQUAD, THE GOLDEN DAWN!" One of the examinee's screamed out, a wide smile on his face.

"THE TOP CANDIDATE TO BE THE NEXT WIZARD KING!-"

"-WILLIAM VENGEANCE!!"

The crowd errupted into roars, (Y/n) holding himself back by a thread before he destroyed this arena.

He could give that the mask that the man wore was pretty, and that he had a pretty voice but that was it really.

The man who was strangling short stack was now gone, standing at the podiums with the other 2.

Huh, so he was a captain?

"Pff. . " (Y/n) smirked, knowing that the loud mouth was scolded by one of the captains made his mood just slightly better.

'William' opened his grimoire, "Magic tree, descend!"

A large rumbling came from the sky, a large root of the bottom of a tree growing as branches reached down to everyone, a broom growing from the tips as people were given them out.

(Y/n) reached out to grab it, ripping it from the branches as he held the broom that slowly turned turned into a sickening purple with dark stripes between them. The bristles at the end turning into a darker straw yellow, probably infused with his mana.

Bleh, gross

He hated this mana, and how it stuck to anything living, anything fresh, as if sucking out the previous life it held.

The spell in the sky disappeared when everyone received their broom, the captain before them closing his grimoire with a smile "We shall begin the magic knights entrance exam!"

The rules were runned over, simple enough, multiple tests, the judges were the captains themselves, and anybody without a recommendation at the end would be deemed 'lacking' and 'useless' by the captains.

"Forward, eh 'Captain' feathers?" (Y/n) said quietly to himself

"The first test is to fly with the broom sticks-" The captain had one of his members demonstrate, floating over the ground on the broom, "Any mage who can control his or her magical power can do it instinctively, it's the most basic method of moving for a mage! so if you can't fly on a broom stick, there's no future for you here!"

The faces in the crowds before nervous, the anxiety of the test sitting in at the words.

Everyone got to work, some struggled, and a few got into the air after a few attempts.

(Y/n) dropped his broom to the ground and placed one foot on the back of it near the bristles while he leaned down and grabbed the top of it. The broom rising up with no difficulty as he flew up into the air, same height as the Four-leaf user who eyed him and the changed broom.

"What are you going?"

"Doing the test, dumbass" (Y/n) hummed sarcastically, letting his hand go of the broom as it adjusted to hold him up, standing up properly now with his hands shoved into his pockets, floating over to the other who glared at him again.

"What did you do to your broom?"

"My mana killed it on accident when I reached out for it, terrible, I know" (Y/n) said nonchalantly, listening in to the talk from the ground.

Looking down to see the Captains staring at them, (Y/n)'s smirked as he heard the talk over his broom, a few candidates pointing at them in 'awe'

"Got a name Mr.Lucky charm?"

". . . Yuno"

"(Y/n) (L/n), I'll be seeing you around Yuno then" (Y/n) hummed and flew back to his spot in the arena, crouching down on his broom and grabbing it as he dropped his weight slowly and stood on the ground. The flying not being as hard as he thought it would've been.

Feeling the lingering gaze of a couple captains and examinee's before they disappeared.

The little conversation with Four-leaf was nice, even though he was tense, he was definitely going to be competition in the future.

How. . . 'fun'. . .

The rest of the tests were simple enough, (Y/n) shot through the walls with a small charge of energy from the tip of his fingers, the multiple projectiles proved a bit more of a challenge from having so many targets but still paced decently, the creation stage was also a problem for him since his mana wasn't really. . . moldable.

The final battle came around, everyone already pairing themselves up- even short stack and Yuno already were paired up.

"Oi, partner up with me!"

He turned around to see the noble who challenged him, quite well equipped and styled, with his arms crossed as (Y/n) scoffed.

"Whatever rich shit says" He mocked, recieving a short growl in return.

"Now! who may our first competitors be?" The Captain in charge called out to the crowd as the short stack and blonde stepped forward.

They seemed to exchange words, stirring something viscous in the dirty blonde while they got into positions.

"Then. . . BEGIN!"

"I'm not holding back, come and get me, Asta! har har!"

So the short stack was Asta? Good to know.

His grimoire glowed as a defensive spell grew to play, covering the blonde with spouts to attack with. Looking smug while Asta's grip on his own grimoire grew tighter,

"Don't hold back, I'm ready for ya! har har!"

Damn he hated that laugh.

"Got it. Here I go."

Asta was suddenly infront of the still smug blonde who couldn't react in time, shock written on his face as the sword slammed him into the ground and knocked him unconscious.

(Y/n) quirked an eyebrow, that was new from the shorty.

Silence over took the arena as he stood back up, "I'm not here to just join the magic knights and have a blast without putting in any effort-

I'm here to work my butt off and become the wizard king!"

Wizard king?  
Shit- (Y/n) didn't think he could stand Asta being the wizard king if he was so loud. . .

Yuno's battle was quick, wiping that noble across the floor with practical ease of his grimoire.

(Y/n)'s turn came right after, taking the stage with the other noble who 'tsk'ed at him.

They took stance as (Y/n) kept his grimoire in his holster, surprising some of the captains by such a bold move.

"BEGIN!"

Clasping his hands together and pulling them apart to reveal a straight line of pure concentrated mana. Shooting it at a shocking speed towards the noble who placed a defensive wall up in response, just for the make-shift arrow to pierce right through the high grade defense and end only bearly centimeters away from his forehead.

His legs shook, eyes unfocused as his legs buckled.

"Noble Reyes has been eliminated! Win goes to (Y/n) (L/n)!"

The defense crumbled down as (Y/n) lowered his hands, the battle was fast. Very. . . fast. . .

The noble's hands shook, being carried off by the medics for a check up as (Y/n) walked to the side again.

Asta staring in utter 'awe'

🔖

The numbers were being called out,

"Next, Number 164"

Yuno walked towards the front, the crowd's eyes bulging out of their head at the sight of all the captains raising their hands.

"ALL THE CAPTAINS RAISED THEIR HANDS?!"

"Please allow me to join the golden dawn!" Yuno called out, the look of the captain changing into a smile.

"Next, number 165!"

Asta walked up to the front, staring up at the captains as no hands were raised.

The captain of the black bulls laughed before jumping down to Asta, they yelled out to one another, asking questions back and forth as the captain deemed him interested

"Join the black bulls"

Asta gulped, a wide smile growing on his face as he yelled out "YES SIR!"

.  
.  
.

"Number 174!"

(Y/n) walked forward, receiving whispers from the crowd and captains.

The hands of all the captains raised, gasps, roars and murmurs all in hesitancy of the captains decisions.

"B-BUT WHAT ABOUT HIS GRIMOIRE?! HE DIDN'T USE IT!"

"HE MUST BE CHEATING!"

"PLEASE CHECK HIS GRIMOIRE! WHAT IS HIS MAGIC EVEN?!"

protests rose, (Y/n) kept his gaze distant, he had no say against such a crowd at the moment.

The captains seemed to take note, turning heads as they talked amongst themselves.

"(Y/n), please discuss with us later over this, the offer still stands for all the captains" The captain fo the golden dawn smiled down to the (h/c)-ette who nodded. Taking a step to the side where all the accepted waited.

In his own little corner, he allowed himself to run a hand down his face and lean against the wall.

Releasing the breath he was holding on, damn, he hated hearing thoose words from such a crowd.

Reminded him of his days in the orphanage, full of insults and digsust towards him.

Asta seemed to see him and ran over "(Y/n) right?! YOU WERE AWESOME BACK THERE IN THE FIGHT!" Asta grinned, bouncing a bit in excitement "YOU SHOT THAT ARROW AND IT BROKE THROUGH THE BARRIER! IT WAS SO COOL!"

". . . it was?"

Short stack was hella loud, but man did this help his confidence back up from thoose insults.

"YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!" The dirty blonde laughed giddy while (Y/n) gave a small smile "Thanks, you're Asta right?"

"Mhm!"

🔖

It took a bit until the counting was finished, (Y/n) waited in the arena as he watched the the whole stadium slowly empty out.

Hearing clicking and then the sudden shade, he opened an eye to see the figure of a cape.

"Awake yet?"

". . . yeah, sorry" (Y/n)'s eyes adjusted to the shadow, the figure turning to the Captain of the Golden Dawn who smiled down at him, a hint of amusement on his face.

"Let's get going? Not all the captains are staying behind, just a couple so we should hurry before they decide to leave" He reached a hand out for (Y/n) to take, to which the (h/c)-ette looked a little skeptical before grabbing it and pulling himself up.

"Thank you, sir" (Y/n) adjusted his vocabulary a bit, seeing that if this was the most likely to be the next wizard king, he had to atleast show some sort of respect. . . even if it wasn't Dai.

"Please, just call me William"

"That going to give me heart attack if I do-" (Y/n) blurted out a bit, causing the captain to laugh lightly "How come?"

"The fact that your my superior is slowly sinking in with the captain title, I don't know if I can handle your first name" (Y/n) rubbed the back of his neck, giving a small sheepish smile at the sound of another laugh.

"Well (Y/n), you can loosen up a little for now" William hummed as he started walking "Pick up the pace though~"

(Y/n) quickly slung his bag over his shoulder and caught up to the captain's side.

\- - - - - - - - - - -   
3000 words  
unedited


	5. - The Captains -

The walk was quiet as they were escorted by other Golden Dawn Members up the hill and higher up into the capital, the cheers from the civilians seemed to not bother the Golden Dawn members, but god was (Y/n) feeling suffocated with all the dirty and odd looks.

"You're tense"

". . . Sorry" (Y/n) looked the other direction as William hummed and his voice softened a bit "I'm not scolding you"

". . . you're not?" He asked in confusion, he remembers being scolded by the caretakers when in public for always being so tense.

Since he was always nervous or anxious when near them, sometimes he'd stiffen up and his shoulders would lock back. Gaining weird stares from the villagers and other kids at the sight of (Y/n) being such a wreck while walking beside the caretakers of the orphanage in public.

The scoldings varying between taking away his dinner that day, forcing him to work until 4 am, go out to the pond and collect water for hours on end, being yelled at by the other kids as he stood on a podium at the front of the lunch room, or even a beating by Nickolas.

It was never good for (Y/n) in the end, the habit of worry growing into his older years over time. Causing him to tense or stiffen when in presence of a superior who has all the power to throw him to the side, one of the reasons to why he was so individual in comparison to most-to not worry about bringing shame to anybody.

Or even remind him of the fear at the back of his head from his childhood.

"I'm not" William reached over and placed a hand on (Y/n)'s shoulder reassuringly, the Golden Dawn members not saying anything about it but by the way they gave a subtle hateful glance to (Y/n) caused him to bitter.

No further word signified the end of the conversation, William catching on that (Y/n) wasn't going to open up just like that and pulled his hand off of his shoulder.

"We'll be meeting the other captains in one of the side palaces, have you ever attended a banquet? It won't be as long, but it should be similar. If anything we ask makes you uncomfortable you can just let us know" William said, walking up the steps as (Y/n) followed behind him, knowing it would be a sign of disrespect if he walked next to him-

"Come on, hurry up, I feel like I'm walking by myself here"

Or not-

Picking up the pace a bit as he walked next to the Captain now.

"There, now isn't that better?" William smiled as (Y/n) nodded quietly, still a bit anxious by the gazes of the other members.

Their surroundings changed as they arrived to the top of the hill, standing now in the royal sector of the capital, taking a turn as they walked past a gate and through a rather large garden.

". . . woah. . ." (Y/n) mumbled under his breath at the sight of the organized plants and the little pond. Legs gluing to the ground as he tried to keep walking, but his body told him to walk over to the pond and see if it had any fish. . .

Fuck- he hated this feeling of being under someone else's command. He wasn't good taking orders since his brain had embedded them into his subconscious as something he could mess up (were there would be severe consequences in the end) causing him into a spiral of nerves.

He never liked the idea of the Magic Knights mostly for this reason, the lack of freedom he'd have, it reminded him too much of his childhood. Order after order after order, and if not completed the situation could end badly.

He had only agreed to theese terms because of Dai, the man he had called love, the only one he had really grown fond of in his 19 years of living other than his foster mother.

"You want to go see it?" William asked amused, (Y/n) staying still, knowing that it was selfish of him, wanting to go see the fish pond when he came for a meeting.

The other two Golden Dawn members grew impatient "Let's go inside before we waste any more time of the other Captains-"

"You two go ahead, I'll stay behind with (Y/n) for another two minutes, tell them that we'll be there soon" William waved them off, receiving a few skeptical looks before the pair saluted and headed inside.

Turning back to the taller (h/c)-ette who stared coldly into the distance, seeming to debate between himself as his fists clenched tightly.

". . . I'm sorry, let's catch up to them" (Y/n) apologized for what could easily be the 7th time this day, lowering his head. Hearing as William walk over, his hand being held while walked over to the pond.

"You can look into the pond, we have time"

(Y/n)'s throat ran dry and crouched down, looking over into the pond to see little fishes swimming around.

The fishes being of different vibrant colors, mixed between golds, reds, whites, and some darker yellows. A bit round in size and easily hand size, they looked squishy which made (Y/n) soften up a bit.

". . . . they look pretty" He mumbled again, hands still shaky as they rested on his knees but paid no mind.

"I'm glad you like them, they're from the tropics which was a hassle to get, but in the end they are gorgeous aren't they?" William crouched down next to (Y/n) who lightly touched over the water of the pond.

Not responding until he stood up "I got us side tracked, I'm sorry-"

"No need to apologize, you haven't been in the city before from what I can tell, all of this should be overwhelming so it's expected that you are struggling a bit to get used to everything" William sighed calmly, "Well let's go then"

.  
.  
.

The halls were so grand, with the long red carpet and large windows (Y/n) could only feel like an utter oddball.

After the little along time with William, he was able to pull himself together, back to his usual demeanor of being forward and blunt.

Honestly he didn't think William would've been so nice over his persistent apologies, already cursing his past self for being so nervous and uptight.

He probably seemed like some wimp now to thoose other two Golden Dawn members.

"We'll only be talking about your grimoire, which captain you'll be residing with and how we'll talk this over with the people who couldn't stay behind to talk" William filled the quiet of the hallway, calming (Y/n) down a bit.

He wouldn't admit it, but the infamous Captain had an amazing voice. Distinguishing from others due to what grace he carried himself with.

"Mhm" (Y/n) hummed in notice, relaxing a bit, feeling all previous anxieties kind of subside for the time being.

His pace slowing at the sight of a painting, half naked and with robes drown over the woman's body. Posing sensually with her head thrown back and a hand holding a rose over her face.

It was beautiful how she laid, the confidence always radiating off of the painting itself.

The grand doors before them opening up when they grew near, William walking in first, quick to turn around to see the missing (h/c) haired man.

"(Y/n)" William called out for the man in question who stood in the far end of the hallway, looking over to William who was already in the presence of the other Captains.

"Shit-"

Sprinting down the hallway, he slowed down when he neared William, walking over to not seem a mess.

"Pretty lady painting distracted me" He blurted out to William who could only give an amused scoff and smile, "it is indeed a lovely painting, but please day attention to your surroundings"

". . . Hmm" he hummed in an iffy acknowledgment this time, turning his attention away from William and to all the Captains and some of their men who stared now at the pair.

Everyone was quiet, so (Y/n) had no clue what to say.

What does he do? Introduce himself? Say hello first or welcome-

wait no he was the one invited.

A fiery looking man tapped his glass to gain everyone's attention, raising it towards (Y/n) "Welcome to the capital" He gave a bright smile, "I'm Fuegoleon Vermillion, Captain of the Crimson Lions!"

"Jack the Ripper, Captain of the Praying Mantis" The man gave a sickening like smirk in his direction, smile unhinged. His figure being rather lanky and his neck was hellishly long, hair shanky and seemed as if he hadn't taken a bath in ages.

"Charlotte Roselei, Captain of the Blue Rose" She gave a stern glare to (Y/n), her arms crossed over her chest and scoffed at his direction. Her blonde hair was nicely braided and her armor looked rather refined, seemed fitting enough.

That seemed to be about it, not much of a grand spectacle or a crowd to impress so that was relieving to an extent.

William walked over to Fuegoleon's table, so instinctively (Y/n) followed behind since he had no where else to really go.

"(Y/n)"

"Picking up the pace-" (Y/n) sped up, knowing now that William didn't like it when he walked behind him.

Standing by William's side now at the table as the side members slowly made their way to their own tables around the room. The captains walking over as they pulled out the chairs and sat down, (Y/n) kept standing before William tapped the spot next to him and hummed.

"Alright- alright" (Y/n) pulled the chair out and sat down,

the still lingering feeling that he wasn't even supposed to be in this room kept him on his feet. As if he were trespassing on the grounds in the orphanage, like seating at the tabled during dinner and eating with the other kids instead of eating afterwards when he cleaned up, or as if he tried to enter the library during day hours when the kids were using it.

He was so used of receiving things last or being placed at the end when in groups that it became second nature. While when he was with Dai for that short while, the habit had slowly been breaking down with some help, but with his death it returned with no problem.

"Are you from around here (Y/n)?" Fuegoleon asked, taking a sip from his wine glass, placing it down delicately on the table cloth that (Y/n) thought were too white to even be a over cloth for a table.

"I'm from the borders, I can't really specify the village since I was too young to remember the name of it" (Y/n) replied forwardly, which earned a look from the Captain of the Blue Rose "A peasant? it feels like the magic knights exam is becoming rather popular with them" She bittered.

"What do you mean you can't remember the name of your village? did something happen?" Jack asked,

 **"Touchy subject"** (Y/n) said coldly, catching the captains off guard by the change of tone.

"We can skip over that if you prefer" William twirled his wine lightly in his glass, looking down at it before offering some to (Y/n) who decline with just a shake of his head.

". . . I'd appreciate if we did skip over it, I'll answer anything else though to compensate" (Y/n) sighed and rubbed his neck "God I'm going soft" He joked and chuckled lightly at his own little pissy party. The fiery Captain laughing along with a grin "We all are, no need to worry!"

"Your grimoire! you didn't use it the whole exam, how come?" Fuegoleon asked, quirking an eyebrow

"Oh that's easy, it's empty of spells" (Y/n) replied bluntly,

". . . Pardon?" William turned to look at him in surprise, "Your grimoire has no spells?"

"None"

". . . not one?" Charlotte's eyes widened at the words,

(Y/n) didn't have time to reply as Jack spoke over "Can you show us your grimoire then?"

And with that, he grabbed it from his holster and placed it on the table.

He opened it, making everyone confused on why it hadn't activated from him opening it.

The pages quickly bringing discomfort, a mixture of languages which were unreadable along with some cloverian. Black pages unsettling along with some of the ripped, crumbled, ferociously scratched up and messily written pages. The only wording that could be made out in cloverian being 'help', 'they're not here yet', 'it's cold', 'I'm tired. . .' and 'goobye'

The captains looking up at one another as they looked over the black pages, finding not a single spell amongst all the drastic writing that grew more desperate over time.

". . . so how did your broom change colors?" Charlotte asked, worry slowly writing over her face

"My mana killed it on accident"

"And the bird bodies on the ground-" Fuegoleon was interrupted,

"Ah- they died when they tried to test my mana" (Y/n) hummed,

". . . the attacks you used, what did you do then?"

"It's a pure shot of mana, I concentrate my energy to create a thin arrow and shoot it out with full force. Since I've been practicing like that for a while, I've figured out ways to stop it before the shot goes wild" He explained to William, who seemed to relax a bit, shoulders untensing as he looked back over to the grimoire.

The air of the book itself was ominous, he didn't like it.

"(Y/n). . . what do you think your mana is?" Charlotte asked tensely,

One hell of a question, how would he describe it? what did he think of it?

"I think it may be a curse of sorts, but I'm not sure, either way-

**I hate it."**

That's right, he hated it.

With his whole being, he hated whatever it was. He hated whatever was writting in the grimoire, he hated that he even picked it up in the first spot, he hated how his mana had grown into such a disgusting mess of murder, he hated how it drained life and handed him some bones of it to control as a shitty apology.

Placing his elbow against the table, he rested his forehead against his palm and looked down at the table cloth that was too sickeningly white for his tastes.

William's hand at his shoulder calmed him down a bit, taking in a shaky sigh before exhaling ". . . I hate it. . . so, so much"

Quiet at the captain's table brought some of the other subordinates who came along to quiet down aswell, some peering eyes looking over before getting called off by their correspondent captain.

The talk growing back into the room as (Y/n) chuckled lightly again, god was he pitiful.

"I suggest rotations for now then" Charlotte broke the silence, causing them to look up at her.

"He may be a man, but he's strong and if he can't use his grimoire yet it means he has a lot instore most likely. From just the magic knights exam, from what he's shown us, he is capable of progressing further than anyone I believe" Charlotte added on, a smile growing on her face "Rotations will help develop his abilities, he won't be able to collect point since he won't be an official member until we all decide and talk over what could be in store with his grimoire. Other than that, I think the decision should be left to him in the end"

"You and your bright ideas!" Fuegoleon laughed, "I like it! (Y/n) is strong already, it may be too much for only one of us to handle him later on"

"Gah! Hand fulls! I'll think of it for a while, but I won't be able to deal with him only every such day" Jack complained, but the other's considered it to be a 'fine, whatever, I'm just not dealing with him on mondays'

"Then I guess we have an agreement then (Y/n), you'll be rotating through us all to develop your powers" William smiled at the sight of (Y/n)'s surprised expression.

Breaking into a weak smile with a puff of air, "shit. . . I signed up for too much, didn't I?"

"Don't get used to it runt, it would be beneficial to us all" Charlotte leaned over and bonked him on the head with a closed fist, causing him to laugh "Yes Ma'am"

🔖

The banquet ended around 11 pm with everyone departing ways, they all decided to do rotations starting with William and go about having (Y/n) help and train with each other knights regiment that agreed to the rotations.

"(Y/n), do you mind if I ask you something a little more personal?" William asked as they walked down the hall of the palace to meet up with the spatial user who would be taking them back to the headquarters.

". . . sure"

"Does your grimoire give you nightmares?"

"Oh, I thought it would be worse" (Y/n) hummed "Yeah, often" He replied nonchalantly but brought a finger to his lip "but don't tell anybody I get nightmares, they'll give me a stuffed bear to go to bed with"

". . . I see" William seemed conflicted on something, but (Y/n) couldn't tell why.

Bringing his finger down, he kept quiet and slipped his hands into his pockets. Walking out of the hallway with William as the spatial user eas waiting there with the other two members, the portal being opened up as William walked forward first and grabbed (Y/n) by the wrist to make sure he'd be behind him and not be left behind.

Passsing through the portal to now be standing in another hallway-

"Where the hell is this?-"

"The headquarters"

(Y/n) clicked his tounge "Oh" was his only real response, it being somewhat sarcastic.

William freed his hold on his wrist and turned to the other members who exited the portal "You all are excused for the night, I'll walk (Y/n) to his room"

"Sir Vengeance, you do not need ti do that, I can show him around instead. You just go rest, a peasant isn't worth your time at such an hour-"

"I'll be walking him, that's final, you are all excused" William's voice grew firm, this being an order rather than an offer.

The members eyed (Y/n) quickly before bowing and leaving with some hesitancy to their rooms.

". . . I already feel out of place" (Y/n) muttered a bit bitter, not liking the dirty looks or the lavish sight of the garden in the middle of the building. If all places were like this, he might as well just live in the gardens and stare at all the fish.

"Come on, I'll take you to your room" William hummed, he often didn't walk down thoose halls since it was for the new members, never seeing the need to really go down there. So this was nice, some new air from the building.

(Y/n) followed along behind, looking at all the paintings, sculptures, potted plants, carpets, candles, and chandeliers they passed by.

"(Y/n)"

"Distracted- . . . . catching up now" He stopped a second to let the large glass chandelier to sit in before running over to William.

The ceiling was enormous, tall, and everything was unnecessarily elegant.

They soon came to a stop at a large dark oak door, a knob that seemed of gold before him.

"This'll be your room, go look inside"

(Y/n) reached out and opened the door, quick to be face with an insanely neat room, large bed, gorgeous window, bookcase, professional desk, hand made carpet, archways cutted into the ceiling of the room, desk side with a setted candle-

He closed the door, eyes burning from just looking into the room.

William looked at (Y/n) in some confusion, "What's wrong? is it not to your tastes?"

"I'm petrified of that room- fucking hell" He had a nervous smile on his face. That room was far from anything he would even receive, this was all so foreign to him.

". . . overwhelmed?" William frowned a bit, seeing how (Y/n)'s hand shook against the door knob, holding it shut tightly as if he were holding a monster from leaving the room.

". . . could I sleep in the basement?"

"you'll get sick"

The pair turned to see Yuno who woke up, standing at his door as he rubbed his eye "You can stay with me if your so anxious" Yuno offered up, (Y/n)'s grip on the door knob loosening.

"Take care of him Yuno, he's a little shooken up after our meeting" William patted (Y/n)'s shoulder lightly, smiling softly "I'll see you tomorrow morning (Y/n), Yuno, sleep well you two, it's late already"

(Y/n) nodded and headed into Yuno's room, waving goodbye to the Captain who waved back in reply and headed back up the hall.

Yuno closed the door with a small yawn "You prefer sleeping on your own or want to share the bed?"

His response wasn't verbal as (Y/n) leaned in and placed his cheek against Yuno's shoulder tiredly, enough of an answer as it was.

\- - - - - - - - - - -  
3500 words  
unedited


	6. - Warming Up -

". . . this is breakfast?" (Y/n) asked to nobody in particular, pointing at the large baffet of foods and chefs standing in the open to whip up any orders or requests.

He had woken up to find that Yuno was out of the room, he left a note atleast to signify that he was in the mess hall to grab some food-

Problem was that (Y/n) couldn't figure out which hall he had gone down, and was suffering to even figure out which right or left was the 'correct' right and left since everything seemed as if it were one large maze. He tried to ask for directions only to get brushed off (ended up tripping them and ruining their uniform with coffee as he left nonchalantly acting innocent towards their yells) so which left him in confusion and irritation.

Obviously, he could've just waited for Yuno to return with breakfast but he was growing bored and the possibility of checking out the headquarters some more seemed rather appealing. So in return, he left his own note that he'd go and try and look around before returning.

Finding the mess hall after almost 20 minutes of pointless walking was jaw dropping, all the people already pissing him off.

Maybe it was from his clothes that still read as 'thief' and 'thug' to most that gave him all the odd looks, then again he could pair them 2 shits.

". . . damn" He cursed under his breath, huh, he suddenly felt his appetite leave. Too many people, too little space, too many snobs, and it grossed him out.

He 'tsked' before turning to take his leave, only to bump into member.

"Oi, watch it you peasant!"

 **"Hah"** (Y/n) spared an amused laugh before his gaze grew cold again, raising his knee up and kneeing the man in the stomach. He didn't seem to expect it as he folded over and fell to the ground, coughing out as he held his stomach in pain.

With the heel of his shoe, (Y/n) slammed it into the man's head, forcing his body to drop to the ground completely as his hold on his stomach tightened at the impact of the ground. Grounding his foot down into the man's hair, he scoffed **"You watch, bitch"**

The mess hall slowly fell quiet at the sight at the entrance caught some eyes,

"LET HIM GO YOU-"

(Y/n) kicked the man into the wall forcefully, gasps airing out along with yells for the man.

A few stood up and pulled out their grimoires, "STAY RIGHT THERE!"

Staring out into the crowd one last time, (Y/n) walked out, making sure to 'accidentally' step on the man's hand while he passed by and cornered to the next hall. Various yells for the man rang out when (Y/n) left, a few standing at the mess hall entrance to stare at (Y/n) who walked down the hall back to the rooms.

"Is he new? . ."

"We need to report this to the Captain!"

"UGH, PEASANTS ARE DISGUSTING!"

"I can't believe what the Captain sees in him"

"I bet you he eats out the trash"

"HAH! Fits him well!"

Well well, Goodmorning (Y/n), and goodmorning anger issues.

.  
.  
.

"(Y/n)? what happened while you were out, you still look annoyed" Yuno pointed out when (Y/n) had sat down to eat with him.

"Hm? oh, some dude bumped into me and I kicked him into the wall"

". . . you what?"

"Kicked him into the wall in the mess hall" (Y/n) took a bite from his apple, humming happily, a breakfast he was used to.

". . . infront of everyone?"

"Some tried to fight me, but I left before things escalated" (Y/n) replied calmly ". . . actually nevermind, I think things still escalated" he rephrased, Yuno sighing while he placed his quill to the side, looking down at his letter to re-read if it was alright.

"You're most likely are going to get a punishment for beating up a member" He pointed out.

". . ." The words slowly sunk in, ". . . heh, off with my head then" He took a sip of his water, laughing to himself quietly, knowing that he was screwed over as soon as he walked out of this room.

"So you have 2 days with us to begin with before you get passed onto the next company, do you know what the rotations are and who has accepted?" Yuno asked, since (Y/n) had explained him briefly about his situation earlier when he had arrived to the room since the incident in the mess hall.

"The Blue Rose, The Crimson Lions, The Golden Dawn. . . and the others are still pending, The Praying Mantis is still hesitant over accepting since he already has to deal with the new members who proved to be actual handfuls" (Y/n) explained, "I'm not too sure how it'll all work though, there will probably be a proper meeting soon at some point to iron all of that out"

(Y/n) twirled his glass of water a bit before drinking it all down, placing the glass at the side table of the bed. His bag was to the side of the door, he'd probably have to figure out how he'd organize himself for the often rotations and travels later on.

"When we received our grimoires, you were with somebody else, who are they? I didn't see them in the knight exam" Yuno asked, unaware to what had happened.

(Y/n)'s breath hitched, the calm smirk on his face falling into a frown ". . . He died a month ago. . ." He replied briefly.

". . . sorry about asking. . ." Yuno apologized, having had guessed that he touched a sore subject from how (Y/n) had frowned.

"You didn't know, it's alright" He reassured Yuno, leaning against the bed frame while he stared up at the ceiling.

The pair grew quiet, letting it settle in as Yuno went back to writing.

🔖

"So what happened this morning? I already received quite a couple reports all at once explaining what happened but I'd like to hear your side of it"

". . . He bumped into me and told me to watch it, I overdid it I guess and kicked him into the wall. . ." (Y/n) rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, William sighing from his throne like seat at the top.

"You know you can't go around doing that"

". . . my hand slipped?" (Y/n) gave a nervous laugh at the glare he received from William, ". . . I was anxious from the amount of people, I guess that influenced it? Atleast I didn't kick his stomach into any other organs"

"So you've done that before?"

"In my defense, the man was being pitiful and didn't know when to stop the fight" (Y/n) slid his hand at his neck down to his shoulder, holding it as he hummed.

"You still need to receive a punishment, that behaviour is unacceptable, your not a child" William grew stern again, glared down.

"Ouch" okay, that kind of stung.

"You're to help the chefs clean-"

"That's it?"

". . . what do you mean by 'that's it'?" The Captain asked confused,

"I did that everyday, is that the most severe punishment or something for you royals?" (Y/n) scoffed, really? cleaning tables is weak, he was forced to do worse as a child.

"And the dirty dishes with that attitude of yours"

"Yeah, you're all soft, for how long?" (Y/n) chuckled amused now, royals and nobles sure had it easy if that made anyone here worry.

"An hour and a half, starting now, I'll walk you there" William said, crossing his arms, finding (Y/n)'s attitude to now be ticking him off.

"Whatever you say Sir" The (h/c)-ette bit the inside of his cheek to try and not smirk, he couldn't ruin something like this.

William stood off of his throne and had (Y/n) walk behind him this time, heading out of the hall and back towards the mess hall where some people still lingered, watching intensely as (Y/n) was walked into the open aired kitchens and closed in with the other chefs.

"He'll be staying for an hour and a half, dishes and cleaning" William told the head chef who sighed and nodded. Probably expecting (Y/n) to barely do anything and whine the whole time.

The Captain walking back out as (Y/n) spared him a glance and smirked, a few faces of the Golden Dawn members looking in as they whispered

"Ooooh, he got a punishment!"

"Look, he's gotta hate cleaning everything up!"

"I wouldn't be able to stand even standing in there, disgusting"

"An hour and a half, that's so long!"

"That's what he gets!"

And with that, (Y/n) could now say with confidence that the members here were all weak and lazy.

He rolled the sleeves up to his clothes, walking over to the chef who was at the sink "I got this here, you just go ahead and take a break for a second" He told the lady who smiled and thanked him.

Right away he went at cleaning the dishes, rinsing, washing with the sponse, cleaning the utensils, placing them at the drying rack and then drying any that couldn't fit on the rack with a towel. Half an hour in he had gotten half way through the large stacks of dirty plates, utensils and cups.

"H-he's really cleaning. . ."

"He doesn't even seem bothered!"

the whispers slowly dialed down in surprise at (Y/n) cleaning without a complaint. Making small talk with some of the chefs that walked by and taking out the trash without an issue.

.

"So your from the borders?" the head chef asked,

"Yeah, I used to this often for me and my lover when we lived together, he cooked and I cleaned everything up in return" (Y/n) hummed happily to the chef who smiled "He sounds like a lovely person!"

"He was, super annoying though, he always seemed to bounce around and ricochet off the walls" (Y/n) sighed at the memories of Dai making a mess of the kitchen once in the inn they were staying at, exploding the batter he was using to make crěpes when he had tried to mix it with his magic.

The chef knew no better, so it didn't hurt (Y/n) as much, the older man was looking more at the brightside and didn't seem to want to push (Y/n) since the (h/c)-ette seemed a bit hesitant to answer some questions. Catching the memo, he had asked him mostly on what Dai was like, which helped calmed (Y/n) back down a bit.

"What a handfull!" He laughed, "Thank you for helping us out so much, between you and me- when we receive people to help as a punishment they never do anything and always complain" He whispered the last parts into (Y/n)'s ear, making him stiffle a laugh "It's a disease they have, stuck up bitch syndrome" He whispered in return, them both stiffling laughs like they were young girls talking about another's outfit.

"You're over your time (Y/n), what are you still doing here? it's been 2 hours" William appeared in the hall, peering over at (Y/n) who was mopping the floors in the kitchen "Hm? oh yeah, I stayed behind to help him close up for the morning"

". . . why?"

"Because he needs to go restock the food??" (Y/n) shrunk back at the growing glare and aura from William.

"This is punishment, not some chit chat! Did he clean the dishes?!"

"He even took out the trash, helped cutting the vegetables for lunch, cleaned the banquet room and tables, broomed the whole floor and offered to mop!" The head chef seemed cherry, so happy that little flowers could almost be noticeable as they surrounded him.

William was shocked, clean all of that? as extra work? and offer to mop? . . .

He turned to look at (Y/n) who had finished mopping, placing it back into it's bucket and sliding it to the side.

". . . I see"

🔖

"I what" (Y/n) stood there, the words from William's mouth not being able to register.

"Dinner with the Wizard King, and Lunch with me"

AHAHA

"Dinner, with the Wizard King?-"

"Stop making me repeat myself so much, this is the 4th time I've told you already" William's smile softened, sitting on his throne as he looked through the letter.

"I want you to have lunch with me as a way of saying 'good job' for doing all of that, the Dinner with the wizard king is going to be semi-formal so we'll stop by the tailor to get you some clothes" William folded the letter and slipped it into the envelope again, looking back to (Y/n) who was staring off into the distance.

"Nervous?" He laughed lightly,

"Is it obvious?" (Y/n) broke into a small chuckle, nervous smile just like the one from earlier that morning.

God- dinner with the Wizard King-

And lunch with William.

"Captain, I have the reports you asked. . . . for. . ."

(Y/n) turned around to see the brunette from around the building, his eye twitching in irritation "What is a peasant doing here sir? is his punishment still ongoing?"

**"Oh, why sorry I didn't shove my foot far enough up your a-"**

"HE'S, here just to report to me over his mistakes. Right (Y/n)?" William store down to (Y/n) who huffed in annoyance, "Yes Sir. . ."

"My my, you have a mutt on your hands Captain! I can take him out of your way, he seems to be quite the hindrance to you after all" The brunette took a step forward, placing the folders under his arm to bow to William.

"No no Lagris, he is alright. Just hand me the reports and you can be on your way, (Y/n) is still to be taught a bit more on his mistakes with extra duty after talking back to both you and me" William raised a hand to stop Lagris from walking over to (Y/n), opening his palm as Lagris stood up and walked up the steps, handing him the folders before walking back down. 'Accidentally' bumping into (Y/n) on the way out

**"Tch, Bitch"**

"Language (Y/n)" William warned as he opened the folder, looking through the reports from the recent missions of yesterday. Flipping through them, "We'll dine in my sector of the building, the chef's will have a menu prepared to choose from there, and no need to worry about the quality. They are some of the top royal chefs of the kingdom"

"Is this a date?"

William froze, hand that was about to the turn the report to the next pausing in it's action, his gaze lifting back to (Y/n) who had actually sat down after getting bumped into. His eyes wide, date? why would (Y/n) even suggest such a thing?

"A. . . date? no, how come?"

"It just seems awfully private, you've been treating me so kindly in such a short time that I thought it could've been an possibility. The shopping spree afterwards seems kind of suspicious of a date aswell" (Y/n) smirked a bit, "It was just a silly thought anyways"

"Right" And with that, he went back to flipping through the reports.

A date? ridiculous, he was the strongest captain, how would he have time for such shenanigans. Even if he had wanted something along thoose lines, it would be with a woman to continue his name, being with another man was out of the question.

"(Y/n)"

That caught the (h/c)-ette's attention, looking back up to the Captain who kept his gaze this time on the reports.

"By any chance are you interested. . . in men?"

the ting to disgust made (Y/n)'s attitude drop a bit "Women, Men, people who don't identify as neither, I don't care who I love or who I don't, how many or how little, when or when not. I apologize if it makes you uncomfortable, I guess it's just a little quirk of mine" (Y/n) hummed.

"Thank you for the honesty"

"You're welcome, Captain"

.  
.  
.

After a few hours, (Y/n) had been escorted from his room by a servant towards William's sector of the headquarters.

Walking through the halls, between a grand one, a smaller one, and soon he found himself standing before a large table, food scattered across it with drink and entry. The large chandelier hanging about it made him a bit nervous if it fell, but he kept quiet.

"Ah. . . I like your. . . table cloth??" (Y/n) did not know what to compliment, seeing everything to be rather in his face. But ended up complementing the table cloth, huh- it was pretty though with the embroidery at the ends of it.

All the seats were set, making (Y/n) wonder WHERE he was supposed to sit, ending up right next to William on his left at the front.

". . . not on the other end?"

"Do you think I'll even hear you from there" (Y/n) retorted, looking down at all the utensils, gently poking William's shoulder as he pointed at the long lines of forks, spoons, and knives along with something that looked like a pallet for painting. "Wh-what are theese for?"

William looked over before laughing lightly, smiling as he removed some of the from the lines and placed them on the side "Better?"

"Not really, what is this thing even for? look at this peony shit" (Y/n) growled as he picked up what could be a miniature spoon, the spoon part of it being flat with its handle bearly even a grasp to hold it.

"That's for coffee" William replied, finding (Y/n) slight distress over the utensils to be funny.

"Cocky coffee bastard, why need it's own damn spoon" He scoffed and slid the small spoon away, which lead to him pulling out all the utensils he didn't recognize or use into another pile next to the one William left. Leaving only a fork, knife and spoon behind, all he needed, nothing else.

"There, that's better"

"Bold of you to do that" William said, tapping the table a few times as a servant came walking over "Yes, Sir Vengeance?"

"The menu of the day please"

"Of course" And with that the servant walked out and into the back kitchen, coming back with the menu's of the day and the suggested lines of entrees, appetizers, main course dishes and desserts.

Handing one to both (Y/n) and the Captain as she bowed and walked back into the kitchen.

Grabbing the Menu, (Y/n) looked at it, all the names of the foods making him feel poorly educated (which he was mostly in his defense)

". . . could you order for me? I don't have a clue what half of this says or what it is" He placed the menu down, running a hand down his face with a sigh "Royalty is kicking me in the ass"

William laughed, patting his back lightly "There there (Y/n), you tried"

The waiter came back over, taking the menu's and listening to whatever the Captain had ordered before bowing again and taking her leave.

Not even 3 minutes later, she came out with the entrees, placing the plates before the pair at the table.

(Y/n) eyed it down, it was small, and looked so overly fancy with it's dotted sauces and garnish "Use this fork for the entree" William butted into his thoughts, reaching over and grabbing the smallish fork from the pile and handed it to (Y/n) who grabbed it with uncertainty.

The lunch would surely be suffering.

🔖

The pair walked down the streets of the capital, William walking with pride as (Y/n) was stared down by the other nobles and royals. Having had grown used to it in theese past 2 days, he just hummed and stopped every so often to look into a store or a potted plant that caught his eye.

The bags with his old clothes and a few new ones along with the formal one for the night were held in both of his hands. William carried his own little bag with a gift for the King, a little custom he had grown.

"You still stick out, why didn't you choose anything different?"

"They were uncomfortable and too tight" (Y/n) replied right back to William.

The outfits and clothes William had suggested were too stiff for (Y/n)'s taste, he preffered loose and more freely moving clothes that allowed him to jump over and sliding over crates or just more general movement. So he decided on a loose top shirt were the sleeves ended around his elbows and tied tightly under the elbow with a simple colored lace allowing his hands freedom to catch himself and work with nothing in the way, his pants being loose and with pockets just how he liked it and tied under his knees, shoes being his previous black boots with it's laces replaced was all. His holster for his grimoire the same, nothing really changed.

(Y/n) was happy with the simplicity, so what could William complain about if it suited him?

"We'll stop by the headquarters to leave our things and change before going to the dinner, anything against it?" William asked- though it sounded like a demanding way to ask if (Y/n) had any problem with his plan.

"None here" (Y/n) replied with a hum, throwing some of the bags over his shoulder.

\- - - - - - - -   
3600 words  
unedited

look, some somewhat soft William-

I know theese chapters seem a bit outta place at the moment, but I'm just going to be skipping over some of the beginning chapters/episodes this way while at the same time creating ✨character development✨ with the other characters and (Y/n)

He'll join Asta and the other's soon enough, but I still need to finish his foundation instead of just shoving him into the main group and wish him good luck. I hope you all understand! 


	7. - Dead and Dying -

(Y/n) eyed himself down in the full length mirror, he had changed into his attire for the dinner, finding it to still- be out of his liking. But William had insisted that it was as 'comfortable' formal attire could get.

Which was a whole load of bull in (Y/n)'s opinion, he bets that there must be some sort of makeshift shirt with an ungodly pillow like texture to it.

But who was he to argue against the strongest captain in the tailor shop?

The outfit consisted of a beige cover coat with a small chain at the front that held it together when worn over the shoulders, a white dress shirt with the first laces at the top untied and tangling, light brown pants that clung a little closer to his legs than what he would've appreciated (similar to the uniform of the Golden Dawn's pants he noticed) and darker brown boots with lop laces that ended in the middle of his shin.

Honestly, he could agree that he looked good, oddly enough.

The tones didn't clash with his hair color or skin, meaning that the clothes were yes, not as flashy or shimmery as any royal clothes. Something he appreciated, and the little accents of (color of your choice) at the cuffs of the overcoat and shirt laces seemed to tie everything together nicely.

William had a good eye he guessed,

Walking out the room, he came face to face with Yuno in the hallway who stopped mid-step to look at (Y/n). Both simultaneously leaving their rooms, stroke of luck.

"You got something to say Four-leaves?" (Y/n) bittered a bit, still somewhat annoyed that he wasn't allowed to go in his more comfortable clothes, and the fact he couldn't atleast pull up his sleeves for some more arm movement. Because apparently, it's 'bad manners' according to William if he rolled his sleeves up to an important event.

"You look nice, are you going out?" Yuno asked, curiosity zipped into his voice at last moment.

"Got another meeting with the damn Captain and some old man, I ain't ever gonna spruce myself up again after this" (Y/n) scoffed, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.

"I wish you luck, I have to go send a letter before the post office closes" Yuno hummed, pulling out the envelope from his satchel on the side.

"The one you were writing in the morning?"

Yuno simply nodded in reply, turning on his heel to leave before he was interrupted,

"And my 'goodbye' or 'good night'? I see how things are Mister four leaf" (Y/n) yelled out from their rooms as Yuno kept walking, turning around quickly to flash a small smile and wave "Good night (Y/n)!"

"There you go, Good night Yuno" (Y/n) gave a small wave in return as Yuno was out of sight.

It was amazing how (Y/n) and Yuno had grown closer in the past 2 days, from them glaring at one another in the grimoire tower to him teasing Yuno in the exams and making him anxious.

God, that made himself sound like a terrible person-

Well, he wasn't all 'good' either, so no arguing there.

How Yuno even agreed to allow (Y/n)   
permission to sleep in his room was beyond the (h/c)-ette's understanding, maybe pity, maybe he was giving him a second chance to redeem himself to Yuno, he had no clue.

Now, he had to go attend that damn dinner

Sighing, (Y/n) walked down the hallway, heading towards the entrance of the headquarters to see William waiting there with the man he guessed was Lagris from earlier that day.

William dressed in his usual captain attire, nothing out of the ordinary.

"So this is the Wizard king's guest? seriously?" Lagris asked with a mocking smile

"Jealous that a peasant is being invited and not you?" (Y/n) smirked in reply as he took a step forward towards the other Golden Dawn member who held his ground, "(Y/n), Lagris, stop arguing" William butted in, forcing a hand between the two and moving (Y/n) back a few feet.

"Lagris, send us to the palace entrance, we will return with the help of the King's spatial user" William ordered, Lagris scoffing before opening a portal "You're lucky peasant, even being in our presence should be a gift in itself"

"Yada yada, do you ever shut up?" (Y/n) placed a hand on Lagris's face and pushed him out of the way, quickly entering the portal to not get scolded by William who was already yelling out for him to come back and apologize.

Stepping on the other side of the portal, he found himself standing on. . .-

well, on the edge of one of the many towers from the castle, palace, whatever you called this large collection of buildings.

The portal behind him closed immediately, leaving (Y/n) to stand, clung to the edge, of the slanted roof. If he fell, he would most likely die, the tower he resided on already being an easy 9 stories height.

"That fucking bitch" (Y/n) grumbled, that spatial user sent him up there, for what reason? he had no clue, maybe for getting too chummy with his captain, maybe for the incident in the morning, maybe for being a peasant in the high class noble knights. Or the blatant fact that he started insulting him the minute they just met, either one of the hundreds of options were possible.

Well, (Y/n) had no time to ponder, because with one miss step, he'd be seeing Dai again.

Something he wouldn't mind at all, but he had a promise to keep.

A few crows caught his attention, turning his head to the side to see a couple of the birds resting calmly, not all too spooked by his sudden appearance.

With no sight of William or any magic knight in sight, (Y/n) guessed he had to make due with what he had.

And what he had, was a dead mana that he learnt to forcefully shove into the body of other living things

And that is what he planned to do, on how he'd get down.

Normally in situations like theese during his travels, there was always some sort of dying plant nearby to help him down or cushion his fall by helping it grow to drastic levels. Obviously the thorns that flourished would hurt like a bitch if he landed in a bush of them, but it was that or death.

He could control the dead and dying,  
but not the living.  
And that is why he learnt to just forcefully shove his mana into the living, to them make use of them dead.

A horrendous power, if (Y/n) did say so himself.

Grabbing the bird right next to his foot, it squawked out in pain from the tight grip as the other ones flew away in fear. Taking their seat on another tower nearby, none daring to intervene.

The bird in (Y/n)'s hand suddenly squirmed violently, squawking louder as one of the yells was cut off, it's intestines and eyes exploding. Dying instantly as all organs residing inside of it's body had been destroyed in a single blow of mana.

". . . there" (Y/n) released it's grip on the bird, the body falling onto the ledge with a thud, blood oozing out of its empty eyes and beak.

**"Stand up, and go find the Captain of the Golden Dawn, bring him here in less than 5 minutes"**

The bird that was previously laying on the ground, dead, stood up enthusiastically, attempted to squawk only for no noise to come out as it flew off. The small pool of blood next to (Y/n)'s shoe still fresh and drying, disgusting.

Taking the liberty, (Y/n) slowly found a good position on the ledge and sat down, feet dangling off as he stared out into the capital.

You could see everything from there, which was nice, the sunset being gorgeous as it was popping right into (Y/n)'s face now.

"Atleast it's pretty up here" (Y/n) chuckled lightly to himself, talking to nobody in particular until a voice perked his interest "Indeed it is"

Looking to his left, he saw a man sitting down right next to him. Blonde with short hair, a star like insignia over his eyebrow, and royal like robes with a chain that held it all together.

"You lost?" (Y/n) laughed again but in a bit more of amusement, "There ain't much of a way down sadly, guess we're both stuck up here for a while"

"Lost? me? I live here, I don't get lost!"

Loud- okay, he felt his ears buzz but that seemed to be whatever.

". . . a royal?" (Y/n) asked with curiosity, the blonde smiling widely "Wizard king actually!"

Ah

What?

". . . do I kiss your hand or something?" (Y/n)'s face fell from it's amused smirk, shit, he was in the presence of the wizard king.

"No no, no need, I'm not like any of the king's men, I don't see the need for you to have to do that" The blonde reassured, "You must be (Y/n) (L/n) right? the one whose going through rotations with the captains? I-I heard of your mana. . . do you think I could show me? Just for a little bit!"

The wizard king leaned over, sparkles in his eyes as (Y/n) quirked an eyebrow "It's not the prettiest mana or magic, my grimoire doesn't have any spells anyways-"

"Please! I heard from the reports that you can shoot and control a pure shot of mana- a-and that your mana was deadly to most passive creatures!"

"Okay blondie, just stop yelling for 2 minutes- alright?" (Y/n) quickly intervened, already growing tired of the loud yelling. He positioned his arms as if he were holding a bow, a thin line of mana shifted into the shape of an arrow, releasing the tension in his hand as the arrow shot out at a shocking speed.

"WOAH!"

With the same hand he untensed, (Y/n) gripped it again as the arrow exploded off in the distance.

"It usually pierces right through the target, but since there is no target I exploded it, hope you liked the light show" (Y/n) hummed, lowering his hands back to his knees where they were previously resting.

"BUT THAT WAS SO COOL!!" The wizard king 'awed' at his magic, a childish smile on his face.

"(Y/n)!"

The pair looked over the edge to see William standing there at the bottom of the tower, looking up with a worried expression "WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!"

"ASK DOUCHE FOR BRAINS SPATIAL USER OF YOURS, HE TELEPORTED ME UP HERE" (Y/n) yelled back down, the bird from before flying over and landing on (Y/n)'s shoulder.

". . . what happened to the bird?" The blonde asked, peering over to (Y/n) as he eyed the bird. Eyes empty sockets, beak bloodied with residue on its chest.

"I killed it so I could send it as a messenger to William, his spatial user left me up here and I had no other way down. Apologies if it was a pet, I just didn't want to risk spending the night up on this tower like a princess in distress" (Y/n) explained briefly,

"GET DOWN FROM THERE-"

"DON'T YOU THINK I WOULD'VE BEEN ON THE GROUND BY NOW?!" (Y/n) yelled back down to William, sighing.

"I can get you down"

(Y/n) slowly turned his gaze to the Wizard king, glare cold ". . . and now you're telling me this?"

"Eheh" The blonde rubbed the back of his neck, guilty as charged.

🔖

(Y/n) ate, the food before him still being as fancy as the lunch he ate- maybe fancier- he couldn't tell at this point.

William had helped him once again with all the utensils, god he was grateful for this man.

"So. . . (Y/n), mind explaining about the crow?" Julius, which learnt after witnessing him getting scolded by his assistant for disappearing once again.

"I already told you, I killed it to make sure I had a messenger for William-"

"You killed it?" William said in surprise, looking over to the crow resting on the window seal "Is it. . . alive now?"

"I can't give life William, no matter what I try" (Y/n) replied bitterly "Since my mana kills and I have no other abilities or spells in my grimoire, I improvise"

William seemed slightly uneasy, but shook his head and sipped from the glass of wine silently.

"Wait- So what CAN you do other than create that awesome arrow?!" Julius sat up, sparkles in his eyes again.

". . . I can overpower any living being by forcing my mana into it's system, killing it in merely seconds. I learnt that after a little incident, wasn't a nice experience to be honest.

Then through my travels, I'm able control corpses, dying plants and trees, dying animals, venomous animals, dried plants, decaying ground, everything around thoose lines. And that's how I controlled the crowd, killed it and ordered it to find William"

The pair at the table were jaw slacked, words at loss for them as (Y/n) smirked "Just a little fucked up, eh?"

"B-but that's still amazing!" Julius gave a shakier smile, how could he react to this properly? The (h/c)-ette seemed to have gone through alot and has to deam with such a killer mana and a deadly ability that attracted the dead.

"(Y/n), could you show Julius your grimoire? I think. . . it may be something he needs to see" William spoke up softly, not wanting to make a mess of the situation.

"Mh" (Y/n) only mumbled in reply, reaching down to his grimoire in his holster as he placed it on the table, retracting his hand as Julius's nervous smile melted into a grin "WOAAAHHH"

He looked over the cover, touching the booking to feel no symbol, but the back of the book was considerably worn out which was odd. But he kept quiet, slowly opening the first page to come face to face with the black pages.

The first written words being written in with a white ink, or they had used so much pressure on their quill that it ripped the layer of color right off. The eerie feeling making him feel uncomfortable right away as a shiver ran up his spine,

"Julius?" William asked a bit worried when he noticed the wizard king's face go pale.

". . ." He flipped to the next page, the words unreadable, a mixture of languages, scribbles of words, some drawn out as if the person who was writing was being dragged away from the desk they were working on. The pages seemed to almost darken the further he scavenged the grimoire- if it even was a grimoire in the first place.

"(Y/n). . . from what tower did you receive your grimoire from?" Julius asked, mouth running dry as he didn't like the mana that seemed to radiate off of the book.

"The one in Hage, though my grimoire came from the ground, I doubt it was one from the tower itself. In the moment I didn't care, I wasn't even there for my grimoire, but still received one" (Y/n) replied coldly, Julius's hand on the book shaking a bit as he flipped quickly to the middle of the grimoire. Opening the book to see the distressed writing in it, the only eligible words on it disturbing him

"Help me, they're almost here"

"(Y/n)-"

"Look back a bit, then to the ending pages" (Y/n) interrupted Julius, who quickly did as said.

The same words in order, the ones that the Captains had seen the day before.

". . . is this a warning?" William asked, his nerves on end.

"They've always been written in the book since day one, so it could be possible" 

Julius suddenly slammed the book closed, shaking the table a bit as he took in a deep breath. A messy smile on his face "I- I don't think your grimoire likes other people looking into it" He gave a nervous laugh.

🔖

"CAPTAINS- AH YES!"

(Y/n) was able to change the topics when he holstered his grimoire again. 

"The captains of multiple magic knights agreed to rotations!

The Aqua Deer,  
The Blue Rose,  
The Black Bulls,  
The Crimson Lions,  
The Silver Eagles,  
And the Golden Dawn!

Sadly, The Coral Peacocks, The Green Mantis and The Purple Orcas are still skeptical. All apologising since they're dealing with all the new members and other issues" Julius smiled, mood having had done a 180° turn. Eating happily at the chocolate fudge slice cake infront of him, cheery as he ate another bite.

"Rotations are between days, missions and how busy each group is. So it will all depend, some may request your presence incase they need you for anything special, but then again you are technically part of them all. . . Attire could vary between each group, so keep an eye out for that! And robes. . . I'm not sure how we'll identify you, but I'm sure we can come up with something" The blonde sparkled "I can't wait to see you progress!"

"My number one cheerleader?" (Y/n) scoffed, smiling softly as Julius laughed "Number one cheerleader indeed"

"Don't encourage him" William pitched in, sighing at their antics.

"Aww don't be like that William" Julius whined, dropping his head to the table with a 'thud'

"So how will my rotations be like usually?" 

"Depends on who requests your presence first"

"HAH, You're stuck with me for a while longer Willy~" (Y/n) laughed, turning to William innocently, who seemed close to breaking the wine glass in his hand by his grip "What a pleasure to have you" He said sarcastically.

"Aww, he loves me" (Y/n) gooed and pinched William's cheek lightly "Stop that (Y/n)"

Loud bangs on the dinning room door interrupted their conversation, the door being slammed open by one of the mages "KING JULIUS, I WISH TO BORROW (Y/N)- . . . (L/n). . . ." 

Fuegeleon stared at the dinner, hand still lingering on the door knob.

"Well hello Fuegeleon" (Y/n) waved lightly, 

loud thuds from the hallway echoed as another face was seen in the hallway "I wish to request (Y/n) for a couple days aswell" 

Huh, the Captain of the Silver Eagles (Y/n) could only guess by all the feathers.

"Is this another challenge between you two?" Julius asked with a small knowing smile,

"William take me back please, I won't tease you anymore-" 

"You two deal with him, I'll receive him again when it's my turn for rotations" William hummed, smiling to the pair in the doorway.

**"William you can't be serious-"**

"I CALLED DIBS FIRST, HE JOINS THE CRIMSON LIONS-"

"Fuegeleon you can't be serious-" (Y/n) gave a nervous laugh, not liking how William scooted his seat away from him along with Julius.

"BUT-"

"NO NOZEL, I GOT HERE FIRST!"

Fuegeleon stomped inside of the room and placed a hand on (Y/n)'s shoulder, "He's coming with me!"

"I'll train him better, as if you and your teachings could even come close-"

"THAT'S WERE YOU'RE WRONG NOZEL!"

"STOP INTERRUPTING ME" Nozel broke, snapping back as he stomped his way over aswell, placing a hand on (Y/n)'s shoulder. 

Aha. . .

"Why don't you both train him for a couple days before the next rotation?" Julius suggested, smiling to mask his utter concern for what the dinning room may become.

A war zone.

"I hate that idea already" (Y/n) replied, forcing the pair of hands on his shoulders off. He wasn't short, so he wasn't willing to play leaning stool for them.

"Fine" Nozel gritted his teeth,

"I'M ALL FOR IT!" Fuegeleon smiled.

Well, he had no say in this apparantly.

"Well off you all go! (Y/n)'s things will be left off at the Crimson Lion's headquarters to make things easier" Julius shooed them off, even holding the door open so they could leave with ease.

**"So much for my cheerleader"** (Y/n) bittered, his wrist being grabbed by Fuegeleon as he was walked out of the room.

Julius mouthing a 'sorry' as he closed the door behind them.

\- - - - - - - - -   
3400 words  
unedited


	8. - Dai -

Waking up in the Crimson Lions headquarters was chaos, loud, rowdy, and everyone training at something 6 am.

Even if (Y/n) could easily live off of 3 or 4 hours of sleep, he couldn't stand being woken up by an obnoxious bell and the loud yells from the hallway. This place was like some sort of boot camp, terrifying-

When they had arrived last night to the headquarters, Nozel left without a single goodbye to his own home after organizing himself with Fuegelon. (Y/n) was dropped off into a guest room to sleep until the morning in which he'd join training with the new members as a way to hopefully work up his way with his grimoire.

Then when The Captain had closed the door and left to go to sleep himself, (Y/n) snuck out the window.

Why? because he wanted some alone time after the whole day of being dragged around the kingdom, so he decided to go out for a walk before returning around the AM.

The walk was nice, quiet, and streets were empty. He had changed into the new clothes he bought, casual wear, comfortable and easy to move in. It wasn't by any means flashy or smelt of rich novelty, but he was content with it's simplicity. Made him stand out less in crowds.

Deeming the walk enough, he returned to the headquarters around 2 am to catch some sleep before running around the training site again.

But god, nothing could prepare himself for the loud noises that swallowed the whole building at once.

"GOODMORNING CAPTAIN!"  
"Morning captain!"  
"Good morning brother!"

(Y/n) laid in bed, dreading all the noise, it reminded him of his childhood when he'd have to be awake before 6 am to make breakfast for everyone, listening to all the other orphans enter and greet each other every morning.

His door was knocked a couple times, door knob jiggling as it opened to reveal Fuegelon standing there with a smile "Rise and shine, training is starting now!"

"A'ight a'ight, I get it. Stop yelling for one minute, my heads buzzing" (Y/n) slowly sat up and rubbed the side of his forehead with the palm of his hand. Maybe taking a night walk was a bad idea, who knew the Crimson Lions were such early birds to get to work "I could tell training was starting by all that damn noise you guys are making" He mumbled, pinching his brows together to alleviate the growing headache.

"WELL THEN WAKEY WAKEY!" Fuegeleon laughed as he walked over and opened the blinds, the sudden light blinding (Y/n)'s (e/c) eyes as he squinted them.

"I said I was up" Voice bitter as Fuegelon reached down and messed up his bed hair, "Well up and at 'em then! come on! we can't leave the other's waiti-"

(Y/n) grabbed Fuegeleon's wrists, forcing them off his head as he opened Fuegeleon's arms so the captain couldn't reach for his head, **"I said. I was up."**

He dropped the captain's hands, eyes cold in irritation from being woken up so boldly. Fuegeleon was jaw dropped, all previous words now forgotten as (Y/n) pushed him out of the door by his shoulder, slamming it shut right in his face with a loud 'thud' that caused him to flinch.

"I'll be out in a minute, you guys go on ahead" (Y/n) replied a bit more calmly from inside, locking the door this time so the same occurrence wouldn't happen.

Closing the blinds again, he changed into the casual clothes, they are multi use after all.

When he opened the door, Fugeleon was nowhere to be seen and the halls empty, walking down them to head outside where he heard yells and multiple salutes. Probably where everyone was.

Walking down the stairs from the 2nd floor to the 1st, he exited through the side doors and into the courtyard where everyone was already in groups to start training, some of the seniors and intermediate knights walking off to their own training area in or around the building.

Unlike most times, the Crimson Lions headquarters seemed to be rather basic, no extra paintings, no special architecture carved into their ceilings or walls, no fancy blinds, no large exotic potted plants, no luxurious carpet, nothing that eye catching other than the occasional sculpture or pa

(Y/n) walked over to Fugeleon and stood by his side as he looked over all the other Crimson Lions, like hell was he going to join some random group and act all buddy buddy with them. He wasn't one to simply 'make friends' after all.

"Ah! So you finally joined us!" Fuegeleon pipped up, turning his attention to the (h/c)-ette who appeared suddenly by his side "Why not join my younger brother's group? he's helping the new members get accustomed to everything"

(Y/n) kept his gaze towards all the groups, mostly rowdy men and few teens, the youngest that he could pick out being in his mid teens and adored similar attire to Fuegeleon's. Guessing that was his younger brother.

"And what about bird bitch, where is he?"

🔖

_Who was (Y/n) (L/N)?_

_From where was he from, who were his birth parents even?_

_And when did he become such a mess of a man._

Questions ran, (Y/n) couldn't keep up with the thoughts, it felt as if he were spectating his body from somebody else's view. The empty room he seemed to stand in making everything feel eerie.

What was going on-

_"(Y/n)!"_

He looked around, trying to figure out where the source of that familiar voice was coming from.

_"I'm right here you dumbass! what are you, blind?"_

His face was suddenly grabbed by two hands, each cupping one of his cheeks as they forced his gaze down a bit to their height which wasn't all too much shorter than himself.

"What's gotten into you today? Geez, I feel like I'm talking to brick wall just like all thoose months ago" The bubbly laugh made (Y/n)'s stomach spin, butter flies flowing through him.

Dai. . .

The brunette was smiling at him, his rough calloused hands from working in the bar for countless years and working in the wood shop, holding the (h/c)-ette's face. His ponytail was out of it's usual thread, the long hair spewed over his shoulders and the slightly shorter bangs on his head were tucked behind his ears.

". . . I'm not a brick wall. . ." (Y/n)'s mouth ran on it's own as if this were scripted, the previous empty and black infinity built into their inn room. The one they became so accustomed to, calling it even 'home' in some ways after spending months in there.

The same fireplace, the same little kitchen, the small entry couch and table, everything. . .

"H-hey! why are you crying?! D-did I trigger one of your nightmares again! GAH I'M SORRY, DON'T CRY- PLEASE!" Dai's previous happy face became panicked, wiping away the tears that slid down his lover's face.

"I'm not crying though-" (Y/n)'s voice cracked, he didn't want to say that, he- he didn't want to go against Dai. Not like this- not now- he wanted to hug him, beg him to know if he died, he couldn't-

"Stop being stubborn, your obviously crying!" Dai gently slapped his hands against (Y/n)'s cheeks to prove his point, (Y/n)'s hands involuntarily wrapping themselves around the bartender's waist and pulling him closer "Stop that. . ."

The tears kept on flowing, (Y/n)'s grip on Dai's waist tightened, pulling him closer as he tucked his face into Dai's shoulder.

He sighed before reaching up and rubbing the (h/c)-ette's head, the free one gently rubbing his back as comfort "What a silly lover I have, but I couldn't ask for anything else"

". . . I love you, Dai"

" 'Love you too, (Y/n)" Dai gave a small laugh, the room fading again as Dai slowly chipped away.

(Y/n) left standing there in the emptu room, staring out to the abyss.

". . . don't leave. . ."

With no answer, (Y/n) sucked in a breath, that was too soon, he wanted more time with him- his lover-

"DAI, DON'T LEAVE- PLEASE, STAY JUST A LITTLE LONG-"

The scenary changed drastically.

A cold wisp of air sending a shudder down his spine. He was in their inn room again.

"(Y-. . . y/n)"

He looked down, Dai in his arms, the stab wound causing the carpet to change colors. Blood tainting his own clothes as the stray tears on Dai's face made (Y/n) freeze up.

The brunette coughed out blood again, eyes growing dull.

The other corpse, Noah, laying cold nearby.

". . .stay, just a little longer. . ."

His hands shook, Dai's smile still as bright "I- I can't (Y/n). . . I-"

"NO- YOU WILL LIVE, I-I'M GETTING US OUT OF HERE" (Y/n) didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't giving up, not a second time.

He picked up Dai, only to take a step towards the door for the scenery to change back into the black abyss. Dai still in his hold. . .

**"YOU COULD'VE DONE SOMETHING, ANYTHING"**

The sudden yell caught him off guard, (Y/n) snapped his head to look behind him to see himself standing there.

**"YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO TRY, BUT YOU JUST GROVELED, HOW CAN YOU BE SO USELESS?!"**

He was at lost for words,

The other version of himself was right, how could he had been so useless? he had many options, he could've tried to save Dai right there, he could've asked any of the villagers for help but yet-

**"The orphanage was right, you are hopeless to society if you lost your lover just like that."**

"Shut up"

**"YOU'RE SO USELESS, AN ORPHAN, RAISE BY A WHORE, BORN TO SOME NO NAMES WHO YOU CAN'T EVEN REACH, RAISED IN AN ORPHANAGE OF STATUS ONLY TO BECOME THE BAD EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS, YOU HAVE MAGIC THAT ONLY KILLS AND YET YOU'VE LEARNT TO JUST GO WITH IT.**

**DO YOU HAVE NO SHAME?"**

Shame

_Shame_

_he was shameful._

He stood in his place with Dai still in arms, the other version of himself smirking inhumanely before striding over.

**"Useless, shameful, cursed (Y/n). You're 19 and yet you show no improvement, always cold, distant and you lack trust.**

**We both know that the whispers from civilians that you are no normal person to them, just a lowly thief with a terrible presence. They hate having you there, even hearing that you are still alive disgusts them, just as much as that orphanahe of yours"**

"I don't care if they hate me-"

 **"Oh but that doesn't stop from the feeling sinking in. When was the last time you were comforted? when was the last time you felt loved? when was the last time you were honest?"** The similar figure got right into his face forcing him to drop Dai on the floor, the brunette's body exploding into a pile of glowing ash when it hit the floor.

"DAI-"

Right away, his face was grabbed forcefully by the other version, forcing him to look into the pitch black eyes. The only thing that distinguished himself and the remake.

**"That's right! Dai, your foster mother. Both died because of YOU, because they met you, you worthless child.**

**A lack of mana from a young age and now cursed mana,**

**how unlucky can one be?"**

(Y/n) grabbed the figure by it's neck, forcefully crushing it's throat as it kept on smiling.

**"You are a violent, violent being (Y/n). And I am just you, being honest for once in your goddamn life"**

.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
He sat up, panting out as he looked around the room-

It was night time, late from the sight of the mid moon.

His face felt sticky, reaching up to touch it and feel the tears. Sighing as he tried to wipe the stray ones in his eyes still, the stinging from it as he slowly woke up more.

"Fuck. . ." He ran a hand through his hair, utterly exhausted.

The nightmare was much too vivid for his liking, too honest, too many memories.

From what he remembered earlier that day, he had spent most of his time training alone to try and control his mana better and hopefully see if he could use a spell or create one in his grimoire. Under the supervision of Fuegoleon (and Nozel, who arrived later in the afternoon) who would help criticize him on if his mana was stable.

They kept a decent distance incase (Y/n)'s mana could reach them, that would be a problem since they didn't want to see if (Y/n) could kill any person when stabilizing his mana to surround him appropriately for battle.

If he was able to control his mana enough, they also pointed out that he may learn how to use other techniques for battle and defense that didn't require his grimoire or attribute. Somewhat good news he guessed, could always master the basics and go over his limits to become the best in them.

In the end, he passed out when everyone was excused for dinner, in which he ate and fell asleep as soon as his head had hit his pillow.

A few knocks caught his at his door caught his attention, "who is i-" before he could even ask, the door was opened to reveal Nozel in his night wear. The usual braid and clip he wore was out, a little mess of hair in his face in it's place.

"Are you alright (L/n)?"

"Knock next time" He grunted, what did he do now that annoyed mister royal?

Nozel, huffed and stepped into his room, closing the door behind him and walked over, sitting down on the edge of his bed "You screamed out for somebody named 'Dai', was it a nightmare?"

(Y/n)'s gaze was kept cold **"No, you must be hearing things"**

"Really?" Nozel said uninterested, staring right back at (Y/n) who softened his gaze, a small breathy laugh to cover up his left over fear from the dream "Too obvious?"

". . . I wouldn't have been able to tell if you hadn't screamed" Nozel confessed, "Who-. . . who is 'Dai'?"

Ah

the question (Y/n) dreaded.

". . . my previous lover" (Y/n) said a little hesitantly,

The room grew quiet, Nozel realized he touched a sore subject and was quick to stand "I'll take my leave for the night-"

"Actually Royal, mind. . . staying a little longer?" (Y/n) asked, watching as Nozel stood in thought.

". . . don't order me around, peasant"

"I know I know, scold me all you want tomorrow morning. It was a dumb idea anyways, I'm just babbling shit" (Y/n) gave a weak laugh again "But I'll be quiet, won't say anything, just. . ."

Nozel lowered his tense shoulder, mimicking a small sigh before he sat back down on the bed, (Y/n) scooting over and bringing him closer into a hug. Catching the captain off guard for a split second before (Y/n) eased the blanket over them, "Just. . . a little longer"

The (h/c)-ette wrapped his arms around Nozel's waist and brought his closer to his chest, Nozel scoffed before wrapping his own arms around (Y/n)'s torso "I'll stay the night, just go to bed already"

(Y/n) smiled against the Silva's shoulder,

He saw a faint light shine from his grimoire that sat on the night table, but closed his eyes. He was probably seeing things, and the hug was too nice to ruin.

"Thank you, Nozel"

"Shut up and go to bed already"

\- - - - - - - - - - - -   
2600 words  
unedited

A couple things to say,

First off is that from now on we'll be getting closer and closer to the cannon storyline! yay! fun!

And look, soft Nozel, haha

Along with that, I had a random thought earlier in which I'd like to ask everyone what their (Y/n)'s look like and their names? I was kind of curious, nothing serious, just wanna know how everyone depicts the reader. I think I might ask this in all my fanfics so far- not sure though, but it seems like a fun question to be honest.


	9. - Dungeon Mission -

Morning, but not as early as (Y/n) thought it would've been.

He woke up with Nozel still in his arms, peacefully sleeping comfortably. It would be a shame to ruin the moment, so he kept quiet and ran a hand through the silvery locks instead of getting up just yet.

No tangles, not something that was too shell shocking considering that this royal was some what of a control freak.

So finding no tangles in his hair wasn't all that astounding or praise worthy really for a royal he guessed. Though (Y/n) did like how lush the loose strands felt through his fingers, it wasn't soft or curly, but more. . . smooth he guessed? no clue on how to describe it, but he liked it.

(Y/n) sat up against the headboard of his bed, pulling Nozel and the blanket up aswell so he wouldn't get cold and looked over to his nightstand where his grimoire sat.

It seemed to be docile for now, no ominous aura coming from it unlike other times. Which was good, (Y/n) himself didn't like the aura it gave off when active or open, but had been growing used to it from training and trying to see if he could actually use it.

Reaching over, he picked up the book, last night it glowed a bit- didn't it? or was he seeing thing?

". . . nmgh. . ."

Nozel slowly cracked his eyes open, (Y/n) placing the grimoire back on the nightstand for now "Sorry, did I wake you?"

Nozel mumbled in reply, eyes falling back closed before opening again, lifting his head up to look at the (h/c)-ette who still had a hand in his hair and running it through.

"What time is it even?" The Silva asked groggily, resting his head back on (Y/n)'s chest.

"No clue, feels like mid-morning though" (Y/n) replied, "You want to get out of bed?"

With no reply, (Y/n) took the action of Nozel getting comfortable against his chest again as a firm 'no, I am staying here' for now. He threw his head back against the headboard, holding Nozel close as he ran a hand through his hair while he stared up at the ceiling.

"What-" Nozel stopped himself, rephrasing quickly ". . . do you want to talk about. . . last night?" He kept himself comfortable, not daring to look up at (Y/n) since he felt his breath hitch in his chest for a second before sighing.

"Just a nightmare, memories actually" (Y/n) said calmly, as if he hadn't woken up screaming for his lover. He didn't want to admit his weakness or fears just yet, of course he had nothing to really hide other than some of the. . . well crimes that he has committed, other than that he seemed to pledge himself quite innocent.

He's only lost, and just recently had he gained by joining the magic knights, but that was as far as his luck took him. It wouldn't be surprising if he suddenly found himself as a criminal of the country for whatever reason, somehow he was always found guilty in this hellish system.

"Elaborate for me?"

". . . no?"

"I didn't prompt that as a question." Nozel sounded agitated.

(Y/n) huffed, the captain had him cornered now. Even of he could avoid the conversation, he would probably be cornered again later in the day in which the setting could be much more public, something he wanted avoid as much as possible, confessing his past to a public audience.

"Memories from when my lover died in my arms the month before the exams, along with the first week when we started to live together in a inn dorm to train in a small village"

He played it off, as if it didn't bother him anymore. But Nozel caught on when (Y/n)'s voice seemed to wonder off at the end, it was subtle, but he grew up with 3 younger siblings, he had learnt to note the small details when one would lie.

"I. . . see" He had hesitated a bit on what to say, the pair now falling quiet again as the late morning birds chirped in the background.

🔖

(Y/n) sat in his room alone, the Crimson Lions had left already early morning to train near the mountains, they were going to wake him up but when they opened his room door and found the guest captain sleeping comfortably with him, they let them be and left quietly to not wake them.

Nozel had gotten up finally to change into his clothes and head back to his headquarters to not waste anymore time.

So now it was just (Y/n), alone, in the whole headquarters other than the few servants that would walk around and clean.

With this time to himself, he reached back over to his grimoire and opened it. The usual ominous aura coming from it as he looked over the black pages.

The same writing from always, messy, rushed, desperate-

". . . the fuck?" (Y/n) mumbled, running his hand over the new small, neat writing in the middle of one of the pages.

' w r i t e, (Y / n) '

That. . . wasn't really all to welcoming

Write? write what? what would happen if he wrote?

Hell- he couldn't even write well to begin with due to his limited education as a child-

And he had to be an idiot to even think of that, all his grimoire brought was agony, ever since it appeared and he took it without word, it's been a mess.

But he was an idiot.

(Y/n) had no way to progressing at the moment.

He had mana, he had power, but he was limited by his grimoire.

He could start training like the 'Asta' kid he met in the exams, but there was too little time, and he had a feeling that no matter how much he trained- his mana wouldn't progress. And currently, he was already strong, not as bulked up as Asta but definitely much better than Yuno who seemed to relay more on his mana than anything.

Time

Time was ticking and he had no time to stop it.

If writing in this cursed grimoire was his way to progressing, getting closer to his promise, and dying peacefully to Dai's wish, (Y/n) was willing.

The more he rotated through the different squads, the more competition he saw, the less likely he saw himself reaching his goal at the pace he was going. 

He had spent thoose 6 months before the exam working himself teeth and bone, sacrificing living animals in his tests to work out some of his basics.

Desperate.

Really, he was desperate now

He couldn't categorize himself in defense or attack properly, his abilities could be an easy anomaly. 

So standing up and walking over to the small desk by the corner of the room, opening it's drawer to grab a quill and ink, he wasn't too shocked by how he sat down on the chair and placed the grimoire against the desk.

(Y/n) (L/n), the no named orphan was an idiot, a slut's son, a hopeless lover in a spiral, and a walking enigma in the magic world.

Was he actually from the Diamond Kingdom? The Heart? The Spade? Maybe just a whatever peasant from the very Clover.

He didn't know anymore, 

his frontless grimoire not helping at all.

Who was he really?

**He couldn't care less anymore,**

He'll die 

He'll live

He'll kill

He'll deceive 

He'll love

He'll grieve

for as long as his selfishness wished.

Messy writing, scribbles almost, he wrote on the black page with the black ink that lit up white as soon as it hit the paper

' gr iMo ire, att rib uTe, sP ell s '

It had spaces skipped, the lettering somewhat illegible, some letters written in capital since he hadn't learnt his capitals and lower cases as a child.

The grimoire shined just like last night, faint, from the edges of the pages.

Writing slowly faded in from under his own words, as if someone were writing them in real time.

' E v o l v i n g A b i l i t i e s ? '

' Do n'T c aRe '

It took a moment for a reply, (Y/n) sat there coldly, if this 'spell' or whatever he was doing with his grimoire right now was some sort of exchange with his soul, he was willing.

To die,

it was fine.

Death wasn't what he feared, he would be dying by his own fault and hands. Something he would be satisfied by.

' G o o d, s e a l i n g, p a g e s w i l l b e w r i t t e n i n o v e r t i m e.

**Welcome, (Y/n) (L/n)** '

The last words were written in bold and all together like any normal writing the (h/c)-ette has seen.

It knew his name.

The book's shine faded into a dark ominous shade as the pages flipped towards the front of the book, the pleas for help being covered up by short, sentenced spells.

**Pure Mana Control**   
**Forced Death**   
**Controlling Spell**

The first 3 spells written in seemed to be what he had already learnt, his pure mana shot, when he forced his mana into others, and when he'd then proceed to control all the deadly and dead.

Though, the other spells that were written in made him curious.

**Pure Mana Control: Defense**   
**Pure Mana Control: Long Range**   
**Planting Mana**   
**Locating Mana**

". . . huh. . ." 

It all went south in a matter of words,

**Controlling Spell: Living**   
**Ritual: Achyls**   
**Ritual: Anake**   
**Ritual: Chaos**   
**Ritual Zone: Dionysus**

(Y/n) already didn't like the first spell, neither did he like the sound of the 'ritual' spells-

His hands shook though as the last few spells were written in.

**Sacrificial Ritual: Menoetius**   
**God's Starvation: Tantalus**   
**Destruction**

**N̸͉̥̳̩̈̅e̷̛͉̬̬͛̏̀͛̋̒̃̕v̶̡̬̥͓̘̩͚̌̽̓̓̍̚͜e̷̢̢͇̠̙̥̦͉̬̊͒͛̅͆͝͠r̸̼̍̍͋̍̒͌͠ ̷̨͚̾Ơ̴̪͍̞̋̓̅͜ņ̸̢̧͉̟͔̼̳̏̒̊͂͛̚c̵̺̀͊̿̂͌ȇ̷̢̦̹͙̗͌̃̚͝**

". . . Ahaha" (Y/n) gave a nervous laugh, sacrificing ritual? starvation? was 'destruction' self explanatory or is it form something more? And that weird lettering one. . . 'never once' 

"God I'm so fucked" He gave a nervous smile, he felt sick to his stomach, he really did dig his grave didn't he?

The writing slowed down at the final words at the bottom of the 2nd page

' P a g e s 1 & 2, e n d. '

The sentence spells faded, the pages flipped rapidly as the grimoire closed forcefully, making (Y/n) jolt up incase something happend.

The cover glistened for a moment before a faint, unrecognisable symbol appeared at the front of the cover for a split second before fading away.

It looked somewhat like a. . . helmet? (Y/n) had no idea, it was too fast for him to see.

Sighing, he sulked back

The ink had spilled all over the desk when the grimoire had slammed closed, leaving a dripping mess on the floor.

(Y/n) ran both his hands back into his hair and pushed the strands out of his face, screwed and utterly stooped.

"Hello to whatever spirit is living in my grimoire, and goodbye my last ounces of sanity baby" He joked to himself.

Him and his dumb impulses.

🔖

"Mission? . . to a dungeon?-" 

"Yes (Y/n)! I'm sure you'll do fine, both the Golden Dawn and the Black Bulls will be going aswell so you won't be alone, I think it'll be good for your spells!" Julius smiled from the hologram.

(Y/n) had started to clean up the ink, lunch nearing as he planned to just go and look through the kitchen for something quick to eat. But mid-clean, a hologram had appeared in his room, startling him as he tried to punch through it on instinct only to phase through and catch himself quickly from hitting the floor.

". . . I might've made a deal with some entity in my grimoire, so I planned on trying out some of the spe-"

"WHAT?!??!"

(Y/n) stared blankly, did he have to repeat himself?

"WH-WHAT DO YOU MEAN MADE A DEAL WITH AN ENTITY?!" Julius had that starry eyed look again, amazement and worry laced in a terrible mixture. 

"Words appeared in my grimoire, so I wrote back and ended up with the spells. Though the whole conversation in the book faded away, and the spells don't have any context and are single sentences with no pictures for reference. So that's that-"

"(Y-y-y-Y/N)! YOU'RE SO BOLD" Julius fanned over him, "SHOW ME TONIGHT-"

"I'm tired from moving around so much, I'll do the dungeon if you promise me dinner again when I get back and I'll see with you some of the limits on my spells" (Y/n) butted in, "Sounds good?" He quirked an eyebrow with a small amused grin when Julius started to nod his head vigorously "IT'S A DEAL, RETURN SOON PLEASE (Y/N)!" 

"GET TO WORK JULIUS-"

(Y/n) scoffed with a small smile at the sound of the blue haired assistant scolding the notorious Wizard King. 

"Sorry, I was just talking to (Y/n)!" 

"(Y/n)?" 

The assistant in question walked over to the desk and looked into the hologram to see (Y/n), "Oh- hello (Y/n)! you must be the knight in rotations" 

"Am I that famous already?" (Y/n) joked as he rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, damn, it seemed like his name was growing well known between the higher ranks in the magic world.

"He'll be coming for dinner after going to the dungeon mission with the Golden Dawn and Black Bulls, AH! (Y/n)- do you have any preference for food?" Julius quickly changed his attention back to the 19 year old who hummed in reply "maybe not as fancy as last time? all the dishes and forks freaked me out"

Julius fell quiet as he slowly turned to look at the blue haired male at his side, silently pleading for something.

". . . Really?" He said exhausted, earlier attitude being flipped as his glare hardened on the king "No, we will not have-"

"Fish sandwiches?!" 

"NO, NO FISH SANDWICHES-"

"Sure, I'm down for that" (Y/n) butted in, Julius's smile widening childishly as he seemed to bounce in his spot "WITH CHOCOLATE PUDDING FOR DESSERT?!?!" 

"(Y/N) DO NOT SUPPORT HIM- NO JULIUS, NO CHOCOLATE PU-"

"Chocolate pudding sounds amazing! with strawberries on the side?" (Y/n) smirked mischievously from the glare he received from the blun-nette "NO-"

"CHOCOLATE PUDDING WITH STRAWBERRIES! MARX, MARX LET'S HAVE CHOCOLATE PUDDING WITH STRAWBERRIES AS DESSERT!!" Julius yelled out, placing his hands on 'Marx's shoulders and shaking him a bit as he shook with anticipation "B-BUT JULIUS THAT'S COMMONER FOOD"

"But fish sandwichesssssssssssss- MAAAAAAAAAARXXXXXXXXX" Julius whined, frowning now as he drew out his words.

"Fine! Okay! Fish sandwiches and chocolate pudding with strawberries for dinner?!" Marx gave in, gritting his teeth in slight irritation, the wizard king wasn't supposed to eat thoose kinds of meals-

"It's sealed then! I'll see you tonight Julius" (Y/n) grinned in victory, he won this dinner war.

"Good bye (Y/n)! good luck on your mission, be careful for traps and possible enemies though" Julius said his last goodbyes as the hologram disappeared.

When no magic was left in his room, (Y/n) sighed and glanced at his grimoire sitting on his desk.

He received the coordinates earlier when Julius had first called him, now he just had to head out now.

🔖

(Y/n) flew over on a broom he 'borrowed'

well sadly he couldn't return it now since it was now 'dead' just like from the exams.

The wooden part grew a sickly purplish brown and the bristles became harsh and a darker dead grass yellow instead of it's pale counterpart. Giving it back would be like chewing bread and spitting it out to 'return' it. 

The dunegeon came into view, luckily with his magic control he was able to get there rather quickly. 

Question now was if the other squads knew he was there, 

eh

(Y/n) would deal with that later.

Flying closer to the ground, he jumped off while it was still moving, the broom spinning and flying back to his hold as he holstered it on his back with the strap he had around his shoulder holding up his grimoire to his side.

Stepping inside, he felt a small draft of air hit his face as he walked in deeper to the dungeon.

Closing his eyes, he focused on the little trickles of mana he felt around.

_Traps in the left corridor,_

_Hooks on the right,_

_a few bugs lingering around,_

_and. . ._

(Y/n) opened his eyes, coming face to face with a smallish bird. 

It had a redish tint to its feathers and a white belly, small and pudgy really.

Not something that should be inside a dungeon,

he spared it a nod, the bird quick to fly off into the dark corridor.

(Y/n) sensed 5 magic knights members, and a couple stray manas that he believed were enemies.

Seems like he arrived late to the party.

"For the fish sandwiches (Y/n). . ." he mumbled to himself, his only motivation at the moment to enter this damned dungeon and not turn back and ACTUALLY test out his new spells in a controlled field ehere he couldn't pose a threat to anyone.

Well, if mass destruction came, it wasn't his fault he decided. All Julius's idea to send him off.

Walking into the dark hallway, (Y/n) walked through it for a good 5 minutes until the light arose from the opening to the dungeon.  
He leaned out to look, seeing the residues of a battle and some of the traps triggered.

A large fly trap spell dying on the ground, perfect. 

(Y/n) jumped down, and as soon as his feet had hit the ground the fly trap flourished, it's drying limbs growing and spreading as it's mouth opened in a weak 'welcome' 

**"Shrivel and die for me"**

The fly trap's limbs disintegrated like wet paper at the words, crumbling as (Y/n) walked over and grabbed a hand full. Sprinkling it into the water systen that circulate around the dungeon.

Clasping his hands together, (Y/n) watched as the shriveled and dead pieces of plants flew to each corner of the dungeon. 

Closing his eyes, he quickly forced each piece to plant itself in each corner of the water system. 

Now, with his mana subtly circulating the whole building, (Y/n) had a faint map of the whole base in his head.

"Dungeon dungeon dungeon. . ." (Y/n) muttered, trying to figure out on what level and in what room the treasury sat in. Until one of the shriveled fly traps landed into an open body of water, sparse, with a single ground corridor leading to a large gate. 

Bingo, that was the treasury!

(Y/n) planted the fly trap's ashes in the corner of the room, a smaller fly trap growing into the side of the wall now before shriveling up and leaning down, dying again from his mana.

This was a perfect time to check out that spell from earlier, 

He opened his grimoire as if it were a regular book and stuck a hand out **"Planting Mana"**

He recited from the book, feeling as if he had gotten zapped a bit all of a sudden. Huh.

". . . guess that does that, now. . . how do I get there?" He scratched the back of his head in confusion, didn't he plant his mana over there? was there a teleportation spell to go there now? What did he do exactly?

He looked at the spells, all was left were the rituals, and some of the. . . more intense spells. . .

". . . **Locating Mana** "

He recited again, stretching his arm out as he felt the same little zap from earlier. 

"Damn it" (Y/n) spat, slamming his grimoire close and slipped it back into it's holster "Dumb spells, dumb mana, dumb Wizard King sending me out at a bad time" 

He unholstered his broom, dropping it onto the ground as he stepped on it, lifting off of the ground as he flew through one of the openings. Atleast he had the map to the treasury now, that was the only upside he had, he had planned on teleporting there but clearly, he was no spatial user.

Flying through the building, he skimmed over traps, passed by the active ones that were triggered by the people who already passed by, and stopped when he felt the building shake and large bursts of mana from different rooms before they joined together in the treasury.

Well shit.

"Just my luck" First he couldn't teleport to the room, and now the magic knights were probably cornered in a fight to enter the treasury.

(Y/n) had to pick up the pace. 

He flew through the building, dropping through the corridor, took shortcuts and dropped his broom and holstered it to take the final jump into battle.

Slamming his foot against a trap that was right above the treasury, the large explosion being set off as the back of the room opened up from the ceiling.

(Y/n) fell through the top, riding down on a block of debris as he caught sight of the magic knights and the one they fought. All heads turning to look at the large explosion to see the new face.

Asta looked up in surprise, eyes widening as (Y/n) lifted his arms out as if he were holding a bow,

" **Pure Mana Control: Defense Shot** "

The (h/c) man called out the spell, a arrow of mana appearing in his hold as he freed the tense hold he had, the shot flying through the room quickly as it had hit the magic knights.

A large wall of pure mana stopping the on-coming attack from the diamond teen, stopping the mineral minions from hitting Yuno, Asta and the unfamiliar faces.

He propped his hand back up again right away for his next shot,

" **Pure Mana Control: Long Range** "

The shot appeared again as it flew straight to the diamond teen, stopping right in his face while he was turning around to look at the archer in question. 

**"Release"**

(Y/n) tensed his hand again as the shot exploded in his face, sending him flying up into the air.

"(Y/N)!?" Asta yelled out in surprise, eyes wide as Yuno was at a loss for words.

"Who- WHO ARE YOU?!" A light blue haired man asked who was rather beaten up,

"(Y/n). . ." Yuno breathed out, a small smile growing on his face at the sight of his friend.

The debris hit the ground along with (Y/n) who slowly stood up from the rubble, rolling his tense shoulders from the shots sent "Sorry for arriving late, I got side tracked with a little something on my way here" He hummed while walking down the path, stepping over the unconscious man on ths ground to not trip.

"(Y/N)!" Asta dropped his sword on the side and ran towards the (h/c) 19 year old who got hugged by the shorter, "THAT WAS AWESOME! HOW DID YOU KNOW WE WERE HERE?" Asta asked with stars in his eyes even if he was bleeding and beaten.

(Y/n) reached a hand down and ruffled his dirty blonde hair "I planned on arriving sooner, but I was able to find you guys after mapping out the building" He said calmly, looking back up to the others who stood there on shaky legs, staring in amazement at the taller.

"(Y/n) (L/n), rotation magic knight and currently sighted with the Crimson Lions and Silver Eagles, I was sent here by the Wizard King as back-up" He filled them up quickly, eyes coldy directed to them all. 

"Y-you're the one Captain Yami was talking about earlier? . ." A girl with silver hair asked, 

"But you were the one that had beaten up a member of the Golden Dawn during morning hours!" 

"He was being annoying" (Y/n) replied to the blue haired male who seemed to grit hit teeth in irritation.

Yuno untensed and slowly walked over, placing his head against the taller's shoulder with a mumble "You're an idiot for exploding the ceiling, you could've buried us all"

"Heh, but I didn't" (Y/n) gave a small smug smirk to Yuno who huffed and closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

With the two rivals attached to him, (Y/n) took his time to eye the treasury door now. 

More like gigantic gates, holy shit

.  
.  
.

Asta broke into the treasury by slashing the doors down with his anti-magic sword. 

"WOOOOW IT'S A WHOLE MOUNTAIN OF TREASURE!!!" Asta yelled out, sparkling as he looked around.

Everyone parted ways to look around, (Y/n) though didn't know what he had to do really. Nothing called out for him, he wasn't really in need for money but still took a sack of gold just in case he'd need it later.

The swords in there looked heavy and uneven in weight, the staffs were too jeweled for his liking, and the crowns made him feel out of place.

Though something was bugging him, but he couldn't tell what. As if there was something he needed there, maybe it just his thief habit from when he pickpocketed often. 

Nothing that pleaded him into impulsively looking around, so he just wondered around until a bright light caught his eye, turning around to see Yuno with a scroll, shinning.

"What was that light?" 

". . . I don't know" Yuno replied to his teammates who walked over to ask,

Klaus, Mimosa, Luck and Noelle. . . Thoose were the names of the other 4 magic knights after (Y/n) had listened in on their conversations.

Nero was the bird he had seen earlier in the hallway, rather close to Asta.

"EVERYBODY RU-" 

Luck lashed out all of a sudden, the doors broke open to reveal the diamond teen standing there in the opening in some sort of titan spell, 

Yuno, Luck and Klaus were trapped in by the mineral magic, sealing them into place.

"I'LL PUT OUT THOOSE FLAMES!" Noelle got infront of Mimosa to defend her, but she was quick to be punch in the stomach and sent flying through the air.

"MISS NOELLE!" Mimosa called out, her friend falling against the ground with a 'thud'

"NOELLEEEEE!" Asta yelled out, grabbing his sword out of his grimoire as he ran towards the other.

"I know what your power is, you shatter magic with that sword, but what about magic that is faster than your sword?" Many small swords formed around him, being sent towards Asta at an insane pace. Soon, he found an opening and sent Asta flying through the wall.

(Y/n) filled in his spot by a mana shot right through the armour, piercing right through it. 

"Too shallow" He 'tsk'ed in distate at his mistake, stepping infront of Mimosa who started to heal Noelle. 

"T-thank you (Y/n)!" Mimosa thanked, 

though (Y/n) was unsure what he could do.

His defense magic protected a grand space, and in the treasury he was limited, his short ramge shot needed precision that he currently couldn't get due to the large moving target and the fact that Asta would be in the way of his shot.

Too many people to keep safe, he couldn't do this in which everyone survived. 

He had to kill this man for everyone's safety.

Asta broke through the wall though, quick to stand next to (Y/n) and defend them from an atrack "Let's do this (Y/n)!" 

"Keep your head out of the way, I plan on killing him-"

"WHAT?!" Asta asked surprise, everyone's eyes widened, kill him?

"Right through the head, I won't miss this time." (Y/n) prepared his shot again, just to get shaked around by Asta "No! MAGIC KNIGHTS DON'T KILL!"

"There's no time for that, I'm here as back up, I'll act as back up" (Y/n) was trying to keep his cool from lashing out at Asta, "Then I'll do this on my own! You stay here and defend Noelle and Mimosa, I can do this!"

"That's-"

"NO COMPLAINTS" Asta butted in, getting infront of (Y/n) as he got in a stance "WATCH ME (Y/N), I'LL SHOW YOU THIS CAN BE DONE WITH NO CASUALTIES"

Noelle slowly sat up, weakly with a smile "That guys nothing. . . hurry up and crush him, Asta!"

His sword glowed a light blue as he soon grinned "Roger that Noelle! Leave it to me!" 

.  
.  
.

Yuno screamed out, Asta had a piece of the swords lodged in his stomach, (Y/n) had a large shards stabbed into his back after protecting Mimosa and Noelle. 

Though unlike the dirty blond, he was still standing, just bearly but he kept up.

Everything stopped for Yuno, no one moved, frozen in time.

A small fairy flosted in front of him, she yawned and rubbed her eye before blowing faintly towards the large sword that threatened to kill Asta and (Y/n).

The sword broke apart, a large gust sending the diamond teen into the wall, knocking him out.

Time went back to normal, everyone stood there in shock, though (Y/n) smirked as he felt one of the shards dig deeper into his back. 

"D-did Yuno. . . do that?! what was that?!" Klaus asked, the spell holding them slowly disappered.

The building shook from the damage made, (Y/n) felt his knees buckle as he finally fell to the ground with a smile. 

"Shit-" He breathed out faintly as he hit the ground, god, it all hurts.

"(Y/n)!" Yuno called out, running over to everyone.

🔖

Something he didn't think would happen, would be waking up while flying over the capital. 

"Did I finally die? well damn me" He joked, wincing before sitting up.

"A-AH, (Y/n)! please lay down, I'm almost done healing you" Mimosa panicked as (Y/n) shook his head "It's alright, I'm fine Mimosa" He tried to wave her off to a reassure her that he was alright now. 

"B-but!-" 

"(L/n), please let Mimosa finish healing you!" Klaus spoke up, "We'll be taking you to the Golden Dawn to rest for now, we already talked to the captain while we were on our way and he agreed on your stay" 

". . . aaaaah, I seeee" (Y/n) dragged out the 'see' since he felt like he was going to get scolded-

WAIT-

"I have dinner with the Wizard King actually, you can just drop me off there and I'll be on my way instead" He said nonchalantly, 

"THE WIZARD KING?!" The three Golden Dawn members said in unison.

\- - - - - - - - -   
5100 words  
unedited

Wooo, lengthy 


	10. - Runner Rights -

"So. . ."

Julius gave a nervous laugh as (Y/n) ate quietly, sitting in his recovery bed with the tray of food on his lap.

After being dropped off by Mimosa, Yuno and Klaus, (Y/n) was quickly escorted to the small clinic inside the castle. Placed in the empty recovery room while they brought in the dinner. King Julius sitting right next to him with a table moved closer to the bed so he could still. . . 'attend' the dinner with the injured (h/c) man.

"What a lovely dinner. . ." He remarked sarcastically as Julius looked down with a guilty smile "Sorry for sending you out on the mission so suddenly, m-maybe you were right. . ."

"And how was I right?" (Y/n) quirked an eyebrow as he took another bite from his sandwich,

". . . that you should've stayed behind to atleast get a hold of your new spells. . ." Julius said quietly, biting the inside of his cheek with a shaky smile "B-but atleast you had fun!"

**"I got stabbed in the back multiple times, how the fuck is that 'fun' or have you lost your mind already?"**

"Maybe you didn't have fun then" Julius mumbled, sinking into his seat, he felt terrible for sending (Y/n) out like that and getting so hurt, clearly it would last a few days from the sight of his wounds.

The room fell quiet, neither having anything else to really say or add about the situation. Julius sighed and picked up his own sandwich, taking a bite from it.

"I'm not mad at you Julius, just irritated" (Y/n) spoke up, rolling his bandaged shoulder a bit since it was starting to feel stiff "I was held back by the group though, with so many eyes on me it was hard to concentrate. They didn't wish for me to kill the people, which placed a giant obstacle in my way"

He turned to the blonde that slowly lit up again, his guilty expression fading into a more curious one as he chewed his sandwich, all ears.

"I would prefer solo missions, of course I don't mind helping out groups but don't expect me to work too well with them. I'm bad with orders by nature, so keep that in mind, I'll try my best to cooperate but I won't by any means be friendly with them" He finished, reaching over to the little pudding bowl that was on his tray along with a spoon.

"Ah! I see, alright" Julius was glad (Y/n) was not mad at him, relieved that there would be no grudges.

"I'm just happy that you aren't going to hold a grudge on me, I don't like having bad blood with people"

"I'm still mad at you" (Y/n) blurted out, Julius quick to disinflate as he slumped forward gloomily.

Scoping up a spoonful of pudding, (Y/n) ate it gleefully, even if his face was still bitter and irritated, he felt happy at eating chocolate pudding. The small bowl of strawberries on the side was also rather thoughtful that they really did take in consideration his suggestion, made this dinner a bit better.

Even if Julius and him weren't seated at the large table, eating together, talking over the mission and (Y/n)'s new grimoire spells, it was still nice.

🔖

2 days passed and (Y/n) was able to leave and go back to training with Fuegoleon and Nozel after demonstrating to Julius the spells he was willing to cast at the moment.

Days passed soon, and (Y/n)'s grimoire has been awfully docile, making him worry that whatever bargain he made is going to come back and bite him in the neck.

His sleep has been quiet, not a dream, not a memory, and it felt like he went to bed and woke up right away. As if he hadn't slept at all that night.

Something completely odd to him, he was so used to having some sort of dream when he slept or troubles even falling asleep.

Now it was. . . just a blank slate of rest to him

Naps were similar, no memories, no dreams, and the sense that he didn't even sleep at all.

It felt as if he closed his eyes for a minute and then opened them again to see the early morning rays in his room.

Training has still been individual, but sometimes he has Fuegoleon's little brother join him out of the blue.

Such as today, somewhere near 5 am on the roof of the headquarters, there sat (Y/n) on the edge, hands shaking as he tried to keep the large presence of his mana in a concentrated ball between both hands.

Nozel had suggested him trying it out and maybe attempt to master his mana enough to create some sort of shield, so he decided to give it a shot.

The palms of his hands burned, surely bleeding from his mana at this point from the force his mana was producing in retaliation to him trying to form it. Feeling the mana burn, chipping off at the skin from his hands in attempt to be freed.

This was near his 5th attempt, and he wasn't willing to give up just yet, he had been close to succeeding 2 times already, only for the force to explode in a burst and fail him.

"WOAH! (Y/N) THAT'S AMAZING!"

Shit.

(Y/n)'s concentration faltered as the ball of mana exploded in his hands, sending a piercing shot of pain up them as he sucked in a breath.

Ow-

". . . morning Leopold"

"Morning!" The teen pulled himself up onto the roof fully now from where he was dangling off, slowly walking over to not fall and sitting down next to (Y/n) on the edge.

"What are you doing up so early? I thought you said you were tired last night" (Y/n) hummed, wiping his blood hands against his pants that have slowly been ruined by his training and him running around the kingdom.

"I wanted to get some training in before everyone else! and maybe grab one of the cinnamon rolls before everyone takes them during breakfast" Leopold mumbled the last part a bit, looking off at the rising sun.

"I thought you had your breakfast separately in comparison to the others, aren't you royalty?" (Y/n) quirked in confusion, why would a royal want food that the members got?

"I like the straberry flavor one, I get nervous when asking our chef for one since he claimed them to be 'too simple for us royals' " Leopold rubbed the back of his neck, "is it too out of our league though?"

"Just ask the old geezer for some goddamn strawberry cinnamon rolls" (Y/n) huffed, gave a small soft smile "I'll grab you some, I need to stop by the infirmary on my way anyways"

Standing up, he slid down the roof tiles and hopped to the ground of the nearby balcony.

"(Y-Y/n)?! don't leave me behind!" Leopold looked over, worry written all over his face, how would he get down like that?

"Just slide, I'll catch you" (Y/n) hummed, "trust me, after all- I can't go hurting the Captain's brother without being throw out a window" he opened his arms as Leopold hesitated.

"You promise you'll catch me?"

"Just slide the fuck down" (Y/n) replied bitterly

"OI, THAT ONE IS FOR THE CURSE JAR!" Leopold grumbled, carefully moving to the side to not fall off the edge of the roof. He took in a breath before sliding down, (Y/n) quickly walking over to where he'd fall and caught him.

Falling bridal into his arms, letting go of the breath he was holding onto "Thank you (Y/n)" He thanked as (Y/n) gave a small chuckle "Don't climb onto the roof next time, sounds like a plan?"

"Like a plan!" Leopold grinned up to the (h/c)-ette who scoffed.

🔖

"Fueggy I am not going to-"

"(Y/n) please, you've been forcing yourself too much. Look at your hands!" Fuegoleon gestured, to (Y/n)'s bandaged hands, the previous white fabric already tinting red.

"I'm THIS close to figuring it out, and unlike you and many others I don't CARE if it'll be worth my life, I'm more than willing to put it on the line for the sake of moving forward-" (Y/n) took a step forward, forcing Fuegeleon to take a step back "- I don't CARE if I must rip out one of my eyes for the sake, I joined to grow stronger, not to have a vacation from injures every week. I wasted 2 days in the castle clinic and then you and Nozel forced me in a 3 day rest-"

Fuegeleon couldn't say anything, everytime he tried to open his mouth (Y/n) beat him to it by giving out another arguement that he couldn't retort back to.

He took another step back as (Y/n) took another forward "-5 days wasted because of you two, and now that I'm so close to mastering my god forsaken **cursed** mana you try to pull me back to rest"

Fuegeleon's back bumped into the wall of the empty hallway, (Y/n)'s hand slamming right next to his head as he leaned in and glared at him coldly **"So fucking close and you want me to rest? I'm not one of your 'cubs' Fueggy"**

The presence wasn't anything Fuegeleon had experienced, cold, as if he were in a caver in the middle of night, by himself with only a torch illuminating the rock walls. The pure sense of demise and. . . as if he had no where out made him feel choked.

"(Y/n)-"

**"Shut it, I don't want to hear a thing from you, I'm going out"**

(Y/n) pulled himself away from Fuegoleon, leaving wordless as the Vermillion catched his breath again.

He watched the 19 year old walk away and down the hall, stomping as he scoffed and shoved some of the other members out of the way. Causing one to fall and the other to stumble back into one of the statues in the hallway, grunting as the statue fell to the ground.

When (Y/n) took a right to the entrance of the headquarters, he was stopped by Nozel who opened the door just that moment and came face to face with the irritated (h/c) haired "Ah (Y/n), where are you going? I thought you'd be res-"

**"Shut the fuck up birdie"**

(Y/n) forced Nozel out of the way from the door by sliding his hand between the Silva and the door, forcing it open all the way open as he shoved him out of the way. His wrist being grabbed by Nozel quickly as he was tugged back "Where are you going?!"

Turning to face the royal, he snapped his hand out of his hold and kicked at his shins, the sudden pressure making Nozel have to step back in pain and into the headquarters while (Y/n) slammed the large door shut right in his face.

"(Y/n) GET BACK HERE!" Nozel grunted as he tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

"(Y/N), YOU CAN'T GO OUT YET, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Nozel yelled out, slamming his fist against the door before running to the nearby window, watching (Y/n) walk away and into the city.

"(Y/n)!"

"Nozel! where did (Y/n) go?!" Fuegoleon came running down the hall,

"He locked the main entrance door-"

Fuegoleon broke the window by sending a large flame attack, "We're going after him! he's being reckless"

Nozel nodded, jumping out the window with his rival right behind him.

"Can you sense his mana anywhere?!" Fuegoleon asked desperately, Nozel scoffing "His mana has always been difficult to track, we have to hurry before he enters the city and it becomes impossible to find him between all the civilians"

Nozel opened his grimoire, the large mercury bird developing under their feet as it lifted them both off the ground and into the air.

Taking this chance, Fuegoleon looked back at the entrance, seeing that the door knob from the outside was destroyed, exploded to lock the doors shut "(Y/n) and his pure mana. . ." He mumbled.

They flew over the small forest that surrounded the headquarters, slowing down when they were near the city.

.  
.  
.

(Y/n) watched as the familiar mercury eagle flew over his head, scoffing as he slid deeper into the alleyway.

Disrespecting his superiors would surely leave a mark, but he was already growing ticked off from being bossed around and ordered when he had to stop or not.

Thoose two deciding what was best for him felt as if he were being suffocated, he was old enough, mature enough and had his own set of ideals, why did he have to listen to theirs?

He planned to walk around the city and hopefully find himself a good spot to rest and have some alone time.

Tonight, he was dedicating it to his wants.

Buy what he felt like it,  
Train a bit more,   
See if the library had any information on pure mana spells that he could use,  
Maybe grab himself a quick drink and enjoy the midnight by his self,

Nothing too intense.

He just had to keep his mana in check, to blend in with the civilians around to not stand out to Nozel and Fuegoleon. Hell, maybe even cancel all of it out to be able pass right by them undetected without needing to avoid them all the time.

The afternoon air was crisp, the sun going down, his favorite time during this season.

Orange hue of the sky making everything somewhat slower as people started to head home or head out to drink and enjoy themselves after a long day.

The day stands switching places with the night ones

And so with the laughter of the young adults who were out enjoying themselves, he began his work.

Smirking, he walked down the streets, hearing a few of the civilians marvel over the sight of the two captains flying above the city.

"Is that (Y/n)?"

(Y/n) caught sight of a small group of Crimson Lions who spotted him in the crowd, the 3 men staring at (Y/n) before sputtering after him "(Y/n)! wait, Captain Fuegoleon is in need of your presence!"

Off to a hefty start it seems.

He quickly ran off into the crowd, slipping past different groups of people.

"(Y/n), WAIT!"

Jumping over stall crates, (Y/n) threw himself off a flight of stairs and rolled when he was about to hit the ground, he kept running through the crowded streets, grabbing onto the railing of the balconies to throw himself over larger grounds he couldn't run through.

"(Y/N), STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Running up some steps, (Y/n) stepped into a bar, quick to run towards the barista and jumping over the bar table, scaring the poor man to death.

He placed a finger over his mouth to tell him to keep quiet "Intense hide and seek" he said quietly, reliving the bartender that thought he was going to get robbed.

The 3 crimson lion members entered, slamming the door to the bar open "Excuse us, but have you see a (h/c) man enter? he's pretty tall, wears loose pants and a white top?"

"He passed by, he left through the window though right as he entered" The bartender cleaned the glass he was holding, some of the costumers had grins and were trying to hold their laughs in.

". . . do you mind if we look around?"

"Ah-" The bartender looked down quickly to eye (Y/n) in question, to which he mouthed a 'thanks' before jumping back over the bar table.

"T-THERE HE IS! CATCH HIM!"

"Good to know you all aren't snitches" (Y/n) chuckled as he jumped out the window and slid down the hill, hitting the floor with a thump before he kept running.

One of them had the guts and slid down aswell while the other 2 took the long route, (Y/n) knew this would catch the attention of the captains, but it was the quickest way to loose the members on his tail.

He grabbed on the drain pipe, climbing it up to the rooftops of the houses-

"He's on the roofs!"  
"CAPTAIN, HE'S IN YOUR SIGHT!"

Just as they screamed that out, (Y/n) caught sight of Fuegoleon and Nozel turn their head to see (Y/n) smirking at them.

"(Y/N)!" Fuegoleon called out for him,

Now to loose both their trails, (Y/n) had to confuse them.

The eagle that carried them turned and soon came speeding towards him,

When Nozel came close, (Y/n) jumped off the building and grabbed onto the cable that was holding some clothes up to dry, using it to lighten his blow when he slid through the balcony door to somebody's house.

Screams of surprise came from the house as (Y/n) ran through the rooms and jumped out of the opposite balcony,

sliding down the drain pole and hitting the ground behind a food stall.

This is why he wanted loose clothing, nothing was caught, and he had all the free movement he wanted.

Quick to pick up his weight and run through the crowds again.

He watched as the damned bird flew back up, probably to try and find him again.

"Heh"

Slipping through the crowd, he slowed down when he came to a stop infront of a small store, stepping inside to buy what he wanted for the night before he went out to the edge of the city to train.

Tonight was going to be his night.

🔖

Hours passed,

(Y/n)'s palms were bloodied again, and again, and again from each attempt he made.

Switching up his training each time to hopefully figure this out,

hell- he even had stopped by the library quickly to see if they had anything on pure mana training but only ended empty handed.

So he had to make the most of it.

The small bag filled with a new set of bandages, a towel to wipe to blood off, some water and an apple to eat later when he decided to call it a night and head back.

Maybe eat it while he got his eat yelled off,

would probably get him in more trouble, which he'd find amusing to see the two usual stoic and prideful captains snap and yell at him.

Panting, he lowered his shaking hands, the damage was climbing up his arms from his consistent attempts.

"Fucking hell. . . moldable mana my ass" He gritted, who in the world said that mana was moldable in the first place? Shit was stiffer than a rock.

He had trained enough for now, he was tired, his arms felt like jelly and grew numb most likely from how much he had fried them with his mana.

Though he hadn't gotten much from his training, he was able to figure out a new spell. Somewhat.

Walking over to the bag, he sat down unceremoniously and started to clean his hands with the water and wiped off the leftover blood, bandaging them up right after as he patted over the sore light burns on his forearms.

"Sore. . ." He mumbled, annoyed by his numb hands as he tried to curl them into a fist.

It worked, but his hands still felt off.

Shrugging it off, he slung the bag over his shoulder, pulling out the apple to eat while heading back through the city and to the headquarters for his scolding.

Walking closer towards the Crimson Lion's base, he was quickly tapped on the shoulder, turning around to come face to face with the very angry duo.

"What a great welcome back, did you spend all that time looking for lil' ol' me?"

"Kitchen duty for a month in all bases" Nozel replied

"I'm taking that as a 'I'm still fucking pissed' then" (Y/n) took a bite from his apple, watching as Nozel's eye twitched.

"You're both livid, aren't you?" (Y/n) hummed when Fuegoleon grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and started shaking him "DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED WE WERE DAMN IT?!"

"Woah you're cursing, I never thought the great Crimson Lion Captain was capable of swearing" (Y/n) gave a humorless laugh as he was shaked back and forth.

"STOP ACTING SO SMUG YOU-"

"Fuegoleon we are in public" Nozel interrupted, eyeing the people who turned heads to look at them.

"Ahahaaa" (Y/n) dragged out his fake laugh as Fuegoleon looked like he was about to tear his esophagus out.

Ah, a month of kitchen duty.

Theese royals were weak as fuck if that scared their members.

The chefs were fun to be around anyways

There had to be a catch-

"You're attending the Decoration ceremony to receive your cape and official title, your rank will also be explained that day" Nozel explained, crossing his arms as (Y/n) opened his mouth to retort back "This is an important event, and I expect you to be a good example"

There it is, that's the damn catch.

"Too many people" (Y/n) 'hmph'ed in disinterest, he didn't want to play the good figure for others, after all he wasn't really the greatest influence.

"Too bad" Fuegoleon placed a hand on the (h/c)-ette's shoulder, "You must attend, and there won't be a whole crowd. Just a few people who will also be rewarded higher ranks, nothing to worry about. You won't need to say a thing!" He gave a loud bitter laugh as he gripped (Y/n)'s shoulder "And you'll be taking a day's rest"

"Oh you little bitch" (Y/n) mumbled under his breath "Fine, but I want to be able to walk around this time, I'm done being bed ridin" (Y/n) took another bite from his apple "But don't expect me to play nice at the award ceremony"

"Honestly, I never expected you to" Nozel sighed tiredly, "Let's just get back to headquarters. No more outbursts like that (Y/n), you had us all running"

"That's on you guys for bossing me around like a dog, at least don't expect me to sit without a reward" (Y/n) joked as Fuegoleon chuckled "I'll think about it"

"You spoil him too much" Nozel scoffed

"Says the one that agreed to try and track me down only so I could go back to bed" (Y/n) turned to look at the royal smugly.

"Zip it" Nozel ordered.

The trio walking back, (Y/n) being held by the bottom hem of his shirt by Fuegoleon to make sure he didn't run off.

His grimoire shined faintly, new words being written in.

' Planting Magic, Available '

  
\- - - - - - - - - -   
3800 words  
unedited


	11. - Bloody -

"Fueggy, you good?"

"Hm?" Fuegoleon sat up straight now, looking over to (Y/n) who had intruded into his room late at night to stay with him for a bit after not being able to fall asleep.

". . . ." (Y/n) fell quiet, eyeing the Captain who was seated at his desk working on some paperwork. The candle light being the only thing lighting the room up, flickering around a bit, making (Y/n) seem a bit more intimidating with his usual cold aura.

"Was it from what I said earlier, did it really irritate you that much?"

Fuegoleon's quill stopped on the paper, was he irritared at (Y/n) for leaving? well, yes he was. But he wasn't just irritated, maybe worried after hearing (Y/n) tell him that he'd be willing to tear out his own eye for progress-

"Ah, was I too rude with my words instead?"

"I mean you were right, you are not one of my 'cubs' as you phrased it-" He bittered, going back to writing.

"So you see me as something more?"

(Y/n)'s smirk could almost be audible from the small chuckle he gave at the end.

"Enough (Y/n), I do not see you like so" He said sternly, recieving a whistle in return "It was placed a question, you don't need to worry-

then again the whole headquarters is asleep. . . aren't they? and Nozel decided to head back to his house aswell"

"(Y/n), I am your superior! I will not take such behavior from you!" Fuegoleon placed his quill down against his desk, standing up suddenly and turning to scold (Y/n) for distracting him from his work at such a late hour before he felt his throat run dry.

(Y/n) stood right in front of him, twirling the chain behind him around as he placed a hand around Fuegoleon's neck, forcing him to sit back down.

**"Can you take something else then? And for how long can you take it before you break into a crying mess?"**

His voice was the same sinister tone from earlier, goosebumps grew across Fuegoleon's skin as the hand at his neck slowly slid up to his chin and tipped it back, making him look up into the (e/c) eyes that glowed a faint orange hue from the candle light.

Running his (s/c) thumb over Fuegoleon's bottom lip, feeling it quiver under his touch as he tried to catch a breath.

"(Y/n)-"

"Yeah, you are my superior, and I was just teasing. But apparently you royals can't take some jokes, shame" He scoffed sarcastically, letting go of Fuegoleon's chin and walking over to the door, opening it and leaving just as quick. Slamming it shut as he walked back down the halls.

Once he heard (Y/n)'s footsteps disappear, Fuegoleon released a tense breath he didn't know he was holding.

One of his hands shakingly raised to his mouth, covering it as a large blush crossed his face. He felt lightheaded, and utterly flustered, he hadn't argued back to (Y/n) that moment, he probably caught on.

"Shit. . ." He murmured from under his hand, what was wrong with him? why was he freezing up recently?

If anyone found out what would happen? what if (Y/n) told his rival-

. . .

If (Y/n) had noticed earlier that he had fallen still when he forced him against wall, does that mean that he only walked in to tease him just to test his theory?

No, now the question was why Fuegoleon was freezing up.

What was going on with him, he knows that he liked women, but (Y/n). . .

"Aaaah. . haha" He laughed dryly, realization sitting in.

He had a crush on the idiot that had ran across the whole city to just avoid resting that day.

Fuegoleon sighed heavily, throwing his head back to look at the ceiling as his cheeks burned, smiling unconsciously at how much he messed up.

To how long he's like him, he had no clue, realization just now sitting in meant that it was most likely from development over time.

God, what a mess.

🔖

The week of the ceremony came sooner than (Y/n) expected, he by no means was excited after hearing by Nozel that a few rather. . . 'important' royals and nobles would be there.

Fuegoleon had been acting off for a while now, did he really take his teasing that far? then again, he was the one taking it all too seriously.

In the week, he had been doing lighter training since his hands were still in the healing process, they would probably scar over but he didn't mind, they were just hands after all.

The spells in his grimoire had slowly been changing, and he had noticed that his 'Planting' spell was now written as 'Available' now.

No matter what he tried though, he couldn't figure out how to use it, hell- it didn't seem like it even worked.

He felt no mana flowing, no residues, no physical manifestations either, nothing.

It irritated him, but he had a gut feeling that he just had to figure out how to use it while on the battle field instead of a controlled environment. Something he believed would happen sooner than later.

"I'll be heading out early to see Julius" (Y/n) called out through the hallway, it was way early morning, he doubted Julius was even awake at this hour but he couldn't care less, he'd wake him up.

"(Y/n)? . . . but it's 6 am. . . " A tired Leopold opened his bedroom door slowly, awoken by (Y/n) announcing his leaving.

"And I don't sleep, I'll see you later with the other's at the ceremony" He hummed walking over to Leopold who leaned against his door tiredly, yawning sheepishly.

He reached down and gently ruffled his hair, combing some of the messy strands behind his ear and out of his eyes "Get some sleep, you all need it-"

"And your hands? are they better now?"

"Ah, still healing, but it won't be long until I can start taking off the bandages" (Y/n) gave a small smile to Leopold who nodded drowsy, "Alright. . . see you later (Y/n)" Leo murmured a mix of gibberish as he closed the door and went back to bed.

"Heh"

With that, (Y/n) walked out of the headquarters, grabbing the broom he hasn't used since the dungeon mission and got on, flying off.

Flying over the capital, looking down at all the people who were slowly getting up to start the day.

The morning birds keeping their distance from him, that is until he got close and grabbed one forcefully.

Right away, it's body fell out of the sky, hitting the floor with a faint 'crack' of its bones as a few passersby's stopped in shock at the sight of the dead bird.

**"Fly up with me then search the castle for Julius"**

The bird got to it's feet right away, eyes popped, blood running down it's beak, scaring a poor woman who passed by.

It spreaded it's wings, a bone sticking out before it was suddenly forcing the bone back in by moving it's shoulder as it flew up to (Y/n). Flying by his side as they grew closer to the castle, eyeing the guard at the top as he flew over them.

The bird parted ways with him to find Julius, flying around the castle to try and seek him out while (Y/n) made his way to the ledge of the castle, peering through the window to see if he could open it.

"(Y/n)? what are you doing here so early?"

Turning, he saw Marx walking down the hallway "Bored, I came to see Julius but since your here mind if I stick around with you before the ceremony?"

Marx opened the window, (Y/n) jumping inside with his broom holstered on his back as Marx crossed his arms and sighed "You're a handful, fine, just don't annoy me when I start working and keep away from the king's castle & royals homes"

"I know, I don't have a death wish to die by their hands" (Y/n) scoffed, looked out the window as he caught sight of the bird. Reaching his arm out for it to perch on, it flew through the window and sat down on his forearm, scaring Marx by its appearance.

"I-IT'S EYES ARE-"

"I killed it, don't worry, it's dead" (Y/n) reassured just for Marx's to go pale "THAT'S WORSE!"

.  
.  
.  
.  
.

"(Y/N), (Y/N)?!" Marx ran around the castle trying to find the (h/c)-ette, desperately looking each end of it for him.

Everyone already arrived and were being awarded, all was left was (Y/n), who was of course- missing.

Even the surprise guests were waiting, making everything a little more stressful.

Bumping into a taller's chest made Marx stumble back before bowing quickly "My sincerest apologies, I'm in a ru-"

"Oi, relax it's just me" (Y/n) chuckled, that is until Marx grabbed him by the hem of his shirt and dragged him throughout the castle, running "W-WOAH OKAY MARX, SPEEDING- WHERE ARE WE GOING?!"

"YOU DUMBASS, YOU'RE LATE TO THE CEREMONY" Marx panicked, speeding up as he dragged the taller behind him.

Turning a corner, heading down some steps, another turn-

"Okay, it may be on me that I can't read time properly yet but I saw a pretty picture-" (Y/n) laughed nervously as Marx pushed some large doors open, shoving (Y/n) into the room before closing them behind him.

Blinded by the sudden light, (Y/n) squinted his eyes,

The (h/c) was lucky enough to catch himself before standing up, damn, he really did get thrown in there. Looking up, he came face to face will multiple familiar and new faces.

"Ah! there you are, where were you (Y/n)?" Julius perked up, "Ask my illiteracy that question" (Y/n) bittered since he was annoyed by just being shoved into the room.

"(Y/n)? what are you doing here?" Asta asked, confused. Why was (Y/n) here? did he already do something great?!

"Hm? oh, to be awarded some shit" (Y/n) stood up properly, the atmosphere changing again as he walked down the red carpet towards Julius who placed a hand on his shoulder and spun him around to look at the small crowd.

"(Y/n) (L/n), the first magic knight to work before more than one squad. I would like everyone to welcome him, the first to be at such a level, as a face you'll be seeing around in your squads.

Anyone in disagreement, speak up now"

The whole room was quiet, Julius smiled and walked over to the throne where he had the over coat.

Walking back over to (Y/n) and placing it over his shoulder's, clipping it at his front as he stepped back to reveal the dark grey fabric to be drapped behind his shoulders giving him mobility, the twin pair of chains that held the fabric together at his collar bone, the two white that where placed at the front of his hood.

The insignia placed at where his heart was, a black and white crow.

"With that, I introduce you all to The Magic knight of the Crow, (Y/n) (L/n)"

Asta stood there with wide eyes, stars shinning in them as Yuno was jaw dropped, a magic knight like that? One that rotated, as if a scavenger, working where he was best suited at the moment, something insane.

Julius took his seat at his throne, (Y/n) walked to his side wordlessly, not wanting to get into the crowd.

"Well done, all of you!   
Alright, we have a simple reception set up so I hope you all enjoy yourselves!" Julius spoke with a smile, secretly relieved that (Y/n) didn't cause too much of a ruckus and he atleast got here.

"Oh, I almost forgot! we have some special guests with us today. Make sure you get to know each other properly, haha!"

Everyone's heads turned to the group in the back.

Mimosa, Klaus, Yuno and Noelle all falling quiet and still as statues while Asta was dazed.

Slowly, everyone filtered out, leaving (Y/n) and Julius alone.

"The crow, huh? and how the **fuck** do you come up with theese things?" (Y/n) eyed Julius menacingly, making the Wizard King sink into his seat with his smile now turned nervous "With alot of issues- I'm not good at naming things"

"Good try atleast, seems fitting with the amount of crow puppets I have currently" (Y/n) replied, amused with Julius's response atleast to flip his mood from the ceremony.

"Why didn't go with them?" Julius asked, sitting up and turning to look who stood by his side.

"A bad feeling"

The pair fell quiet, the teasing atmosphere changing into a more tense one as Julius's smile fell to a serious expression "So you've noticed?"

"I have two crows flying around, I've been sensing uneasy mana for a while now since earlier this morning. That is why I decided to come earlier and check on you. I'm guessing it's the same story with you" (Y/n) released himself from the previous tense and soldiering position, now rubbing his wrist to get in comfortable in the bandages.

"Go on ahead, I'll stay behind and keep an eye out"

Julius hesitated, would it be alright to do that? "But-"

"Go, I'll send the crow from last time to go with you, we'll keep contact that way incase of anything-" (Y/n) rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, tying them up with the lace at the ends as he cracked his knuckles.

"- _I've been itching for a fight anyways_ "

That seemed to be all the reassurance that Julius needed, nodding as he stood up and left from the room.

🔖

  
"THE CAPITAL IS UNDER ATTACK!" The mage barged into the room, shocking many as one of the Golden Dawn members opened his grimoire and summoned a stone replica of the capital.

"Where is (Y/n)?" Fuegoleon mumbled to himself,

A crow flew through the door suddenly, cawing violently making a few people wince and grit their teeth "Somebody deal with the bird!" Solid yelled out, that is until it came closer and sat at the edge of a table.

It's eyes were popped, empty sockets, bloodied, a wing broken, and part of it's mouth revealed his skull.

Solid yelped and stepped back at the sight of the decaying and mutilated bird.

Everyone eyed the bird as they talked about a plan, Asta desperate to go out to battle right away.

The bird made a growling noise before squawking loudly,

(Y/n) walked nonchalantly through the doors of the reception, the bird turning to look at him before flying over to his arm, perking on it as everyone's eyes went to him.

"Walking corpses everywhere, what a crappy mess man"

"(Y/n)!" Asta ran towards him "LET'S GET TO THE CENTER SO-"

"Go on without me" (Y/n) patred Asta's back and sent him off as he left running.

Everyone followed along, dividing the districts by groups, (Y/n) hummed as he watched everyone leave out the windows as Fuegoleon spared him one last glance before shouting out

"IF WE FAIL TO PROTECT THE CAPITAL, WE'LL BRING SHAME TO THE MAGIC KNIGHTS. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET THE ENEMY ESCAPE!"

"Stay safe (Y/n)!" Charlotte called out as she left,

"Don't go doing what you usually do" Nozel scoffed as he flew off, Solid eyeing (Y/n)'s bird one last time before focusing again,

"Keep focused, I'm not sure what you're up to but don't make me regret it!" Klaus called out as he parted ways.

"Be careful (Y/n)" Yuno gave a little wave as he left.

"I'LL SEE YOU ON THE BATTLEFIELD (Y/N)!" Leopold called out as he left with his brother.

(Y/n) stood in the empty room, humming as a little girl seemed to crawl out from underneath the table, looking around before shuddering when she made eye contact with him.

"KYAA!" She jolted up and skidded off into the hallway, screaming as she ran.

(Y/n) stood there in surprise, huh, he scared a kid away.

How did that brat even sneak inside? some security for the Wizard King.

Now. . .

(Y/n) placed the crow on the table, rolling his shoulders so he could get this show on the road.

He had a plan, a hellish one, in which he'd be playing the dumbest idea to date.

Pulling out his grimoire, he opened the pages and stopped at the 2nd page.

Placing the grimoire on the ground he stood before it and clasped his hands together, smirking at the feeling of control over such a horde.

**"Ritual Zone: Dionysus"**

The grimoire lit up, a large burst of mana coming from the reception room he was in.

.  
.  
.

"What was that?!" Nebra asked as she turned to look towards the castle where the large source of mana suddenly spiked, her skin grew goosebumps, the mana felt threatening.

"Isn't it that (Y/n) dude?" Solid asked, feeling his stomach drop when a second smaller wave of mana washed over them, this one being a colder wave.

Nozel kept quiet, skeptical but he'd give (Y/n) a chance at whatever his plan is.

.  
.  
.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Leopold shuddered when the wave of mana flew over him, a nervous grin on his face from what he sensed.

"I- That's far too menacing to be any noble!" Noelle stuttered out, feeling the color leave her face at the second wave.

"What happened you guys!?" Asta asked in confusion, looking over to Leopold and Noelle.

"A wave of mana just came from the-"

A larger burst of mana came from the tower, making Leopold's knees buckle "H-hah!" He laughed nervously.

Not even a moment later, the corpses that were trying to attack them started to explode by their heads, blood splattering everywhere.

"WH-WHAT?!?" Rades yelled out, trying to command the corspses only for a lack of response.

A corpse nearby grabbed it's own mouth and held it open, ripping it apart as it disconnected it to it's skull. Killing itself.

Noelle screamed at the sight, frightened as Leopold moved back.

.  
.  
.

(Y/n) holstered his grimoire, looking out to the whole capital to see large bursts of black spatial magic consume where some of the magic knights were.

"Their trying to divide us. . . huh?" (Y/n) noted, unholstering his broom as he jumped onto it and flew off.

His spell was active, giving him control over the spell that was already in play, he was just overlaying to it. Their abilities seemed similar, but he had the upper hand a  
knowing that he could easily destroy the dead bodies.

Sending his crow off to search for the magic knights that went missing, he was left with the little smaller birds he had killed during one of his training sessions while trying to control his mana, having them fly around and look around the space. They weren't as fast or as tactile, but they worked just fine.

One signalled him over a witch who seemed to be causing chaos, but Yuno was already on it.

Leaving the main battle to be unseen yet.

Lowering down and closer to the ground, (Y/n) jumped off his broom and holstered it again, walking against the traffic of civilians running away from a horde.

"SIR, RUN!" A young woman begged him before being shoved by the crowd.

(Y/n) came face to face with the horde and kept walking towards them, close enough and their all exploded.

The mixture of organs, blood, heads, bones, and limbs littered the walls and street floors.

This is where (Y/n) was in his utmost element.

Free from a group, no teammates to worry about, and the utter world to his hands.

A zombie tried to sneak up on him, but looking the other direction, (Y/n) grabbed it's face in his hand.

It's eyes popped out of it's head, mouth falling open as blood spewed from it, the sound of bubbling from their stomach and organs being exploded inside of it before it's whole bottom half exploded off by the pressure. Dirtying (Y/n)'s white shirt, grey overcoat, and beige pants. Hands now covered in blood as he wiped them against his pants, no use trying to keep them clean now.

Dropping the corpse to the ground, (Y/n) kicked it to the side and into the building. The horde now gone as one goers watched in fear at the sight.

"S-STAY BACK!"  
"DON'T COME NEAR US, PLEASE!"  
"YOU- YOU MONSTER!"  
"H-HOW DID YOU EVEN DO THAT?! YOUR GRIMOIRE!"  
"Don't look Oliver, he's a monster!"

A mixture of yelles and curses directed towards him made (Y/n) grit his teeth as he kept on walking.

He wasn't do this for the civilians,

He was doing this for Dai,

For his lover who he was sick of missing so much.

And-

His scenary changed in a split second.

(Y/n) found himself standing right infront of Fuegoleon's body, sprawled out on the ground, missing an arm and bleeding out.

Ah. . .

"(Y-"

A sudden burst of mana came from him, causing Noelle to stumble back.

The mages who surrounded Leopold and Asta froze still, turning to look at him as he snapped his head towards them.

A couple of them started choking suddenly, grabbing onto their necks and clawing at their skin to get air, some fell to the ground as they died.

Leaving a few of them, (Y/n) knelt down and picked up Fuegoleon in his arms, holding him bridal to not disturb any of his injuries and kept him close to his chest.

Bloodied by the innocent, (Y/n) couldn't care the least.

"Y-YOU'RE THE ONE BEHIND-" Rades spoke up, just for a sudden arrow of mana be shot through his shoulder.

The speed was unreal, terrifying everyone as they eyed (Y/n) who had a stone cold expression. Holding the Captain of the Crimson Lions close to him, eyes disassociated.

Moments later, the other Magic knights arrived. Eyeing (Y/n) who was covered in blood and held Fuegoleon, shooting down at all the mages, each having atleast a couple shots through them, trying to defend themselves.

"(Y/n)-" Nozel's eyes fell wide at the sight.

The (h/c)-ette was quiet, not a single response.

But slowly, he sat down, keeping Fuegoleon in his lap as he ripped the sleeve of his shirt off, using the help of Noelle's fabric to tied it all off properly to stop the bleeding atleast.

"Mercury Magic: Rain of Silver"

Nozel's grimoire shone as blobs of mercury formed over the mages, falling on them until oen countered it.

"Gel magic: Sticky salamander! Dark magic Item: special properties +alpha absorbed!"

A giant salamander grew, absorbing the attack.

They grabbed Asta all of a sudden using their gel, placing him in a ball as they held him.

A spatial portal appeared underneath them, preparing an escape-

"ASTA!" Both Klaus and Mimosa yelled out,

Another wave of mana had everyone freeze up, (Y/n) raised his hand up and swiped it.

One of the mage's heads was cut off at the simple action, another's hands was caught and it fell to ground with a sickening 'thud' and screams of agony.

The spatial user sped up and disappeared before anybody else could attack.

Now that they were gone, everyone slowly turned to look at (Y/n) who looked off into the distance.

"Asta. . . We have to find Asta!" Noelle spoke up,

"Noelle, we can't- I'm sorry but there is no way we can locate him" Klaus replied,

"Yes, but!-"

"No." Nozel interrupted his sister, looking down at her, "Right now our top priority is to reinforce the capital's defenses. There is no guarantee that thoose were the only enemies, we don't have time or magic to spend on someone like him"

Noelle fell quiet, turning to look at (Y/n) who lowered his gaze to the ground.

Indeed, she was terrified of him right now, the dead bodies and dismantled ones that littered the ground proved her fear, but he was the one who had helped save them. . .

"Mimosa, help Captain Fuegoleon!" Noelle raised her voice a bit, startling Mimosa a bit before she ran over to where (Y/n) sat.

Kneeling down, she eyed him worriedly "Are you hurt aswell?" She asked softly, her flower robe appearing on her body.

"No" (Y/n) replied coldy, making Mimosa stiffen a bit before focusing again.

"(Y/n), place Fuegoleon down so Mimosa doesn't need to waste her mana on you" Nozel ordered, crossing his arms.

Not a single attempt was made by him until (Y/n) looked up to see everyone looking at him.

Gently, he laid Fuegoleon down on the ground and stood up.

Mimosa got to work right away, healing both Leopold and Fuegoleon to the best of her ability.

(Y/n) took his leave, the spell he was using slowly disappearing and lowering on the capital. He wasn't needed there anymore, and honestly he didn't wish to be there anymore.

The previous tense and cold air changing with a fresh breeze from the outside.

"(Y/n). . ." Klaus watched as the (h/c)-ette walked away, bloody foot prints being left behind.

🔖

(Y/n) sat alone on the edge of the castle walls, the blood on him had dried when he cleaned off, everything stained, his hands still had the metalic smell of blood, white now dyed red, beige now a shade darker with random splotches, coat teared and destroyed, thrown messily on (Y/n)'s side.

Grimoire laying ontop of the overcoat, staring off at the sunset.

He was tired, exhausted, and so fucking drained.

This was a repeat, the same repeat he dreaded.

He got close, just to lose someone important to him, and leaving him painted as a bad guy from the looks of everyone.

There was a clear line between him and most other magic knights, he wasn't one for following the 'good' or 'right' and did what he needed to do to get what HE deemed right.

So to the civilians, his acts were one of murder, to the other magic knights it was cowardice for treating the battle so lightly and the abuse of mana, how poorly he used it and made other's suffer for it.

Sighing, he was willing to just jump off the edge and call it a day.

(Y/n) was right, he was a terrible magic knight.

"(Y/n)?"

Looking to his right, he saw Nozel standing there in his casual attire. The jumper revealing parts of his shoulders and collar,

He wore a frown looking at (Y/n)'s red bottom lines eyes.

". . . ." wordlessly, he opened his arms as (Y/n) gave him a hesitant glance before slowly standing up.

Walking over and wrapping his srms around Nozel's waist tightly, holding him close as he hid his face in Nozel's neck.

The royal slowly wrapped his arms around (Y/n)'s shoulders, rubbing his back lightly.

Both quiet as the (h/c)-ette cried silently into Nozel's neck, breath hiccuping.

\- - - - - - - - -  
4500 words  
unedited

Woo, long


	12. - Nean -

(Y/n) sat there next to Fuegoleon's bed, it was probably near 3 am now by how dark it was out and the cold breeze that would occasionally pass through the open window in the room.

He had been entering and leaving through the window, not wanting to face anybody after his mess.

Clearly, he left a mess in his wake after the attack. Rumors grew between the civilians on him, talking about some new magic knight with a crow signia that had killed swarms in a horrific manner.

How he left bloodied foot prints, how he'd look down at the bodies and kick them away as if they weren't people before. Disturbing and disgusting many with how he acted. How some caught sight of him attempting to clean through the bodies to hide his mass murder, no honor carried through it, no chivalry, no form of respect for the ones he killed even.

Of course, many other magic knights did that aswell, but thoose were nobles in which they could cover up their messes easily with money. But (Y/n) was a nobody who brought a mass of destruction before a crowd.

He had no way to save himself.

Hell, he hasn't shown up or spoken to anybody in days. Nozel was the last he spoke to or even confronted.

He's been avoiding everyone, terrified of everything now.

God he wanted to curl up in a ball and die wordlessly without a scandal.

So far, only a few people have even tried looking for (Y/n). Just to find no clues to where he may be or where he was going.

Most nights though, he snuck into Fuegoleon's room and stayed there, watching over him before leaving early morning when the sun peaked over the hills.

His hand gently held Fuegoleon's, his face cold from being outside all the time and fingers rough, bandaged messily and scarred by overworking himself again. His form of releasing all his pent up energy in a somewhat healthier form than going off and getting into fights like how he did when Dai had. . . died.

Maybe it was healthier, he wasn't sure, he was bad at self care since as long as he could remember and usually got scolded by Dai to take a day off. Fuegoleon and Nozel did the same. . .

And now he had nobody to help stop himself, maybe overworking himself wasn't any healthier. . .

Sleep has been difficult, spending most of his time training instead as he'd allow himself to pass out for short naps everytime he ran out of energy and fell limb less to the ground. That was his sleep now.

(Y/n)'s head slowly nodded off, lifting it back up to not fall asleep there. He just had to stay awake a few more hours and he'd leave, sleeping here would probably be a bad idea since the nurses would walk in to check on Fuegoleon when the sun rose.

His hands shook a bit from how tense he was,

if only he had arrived to the main battle sooner to help them.

If only he had figured out sooner his abilities, if only he had a bird watching their battle to know what was going in.

Even with the Ritual Zone active, he wasn't able to use it to all it's potential in fear of hurting any of the magic knights that were fighting. Look at him, caring for others, a mistake no matter how many times he tried to correct he would always mess up.

.  
.  
.

(Y/n) woke up to feel somebody shaking him a bit, groaning tiredly as he slowly sat up, his back in utter pain from the position he slept in.

Slumpt over in his seat and against the bed, a hand holding Fuegoleon's.

"There, awake?"

Turning to the one who woke him up, he came face to face with Leopold who smiled softly down to him, small tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"So you've been the one visiting all the time. . ." Leopold said softly, reaching down and moving the messy strands of (h/c) hair out of (Y/n)'s face that clung to his skin from the odd position.

"Leo, I'll leave, I'm sorry for disturbing your vi-"

Just as (Y/n) stood up to leave, Leopold stopped him by hugging him tightly by his torso. The momentum making him sit back down, Leopold tucking his face into (Y/n)'s shoulder, chest heaving for breaths as he hiccuped out cries.

The Vermillion had missed (Y/n) for all the time he had been gone, without a sign of return.

"Hey- don't cry" (Y/n) softened a bit, reaching down and ran a hand through the messy long hair of Leopold's. Out of it's usual braid and flowing over his shoulders.

"You- I'll never forgive you for leaving like that" Leopold said shakily in (Y/n)'s chest, the red marks under his eyes smudging as they ran down his cheeks along with the flow of his tears.

Guilt crawled over (Y/n)'s back, looking down at Leopold who clung to him, pleading him to stay.

"I know Leo, I know" He sighed, giving in to the younger who clawed at the back of his shirt to keep him close. Fingers digging into the fabric, fisting it into handfuls to keep (Y/n) from running off again.

A hand held the back of Leo's head against his chest, the other one rubbing against his back to soothe him from the crying.

The pair stayed as so, the early morning sun slowly peaking over the kingdom and into the room.

🔖

(Y/n) stood before the Wizard King,

he had snuck into the castle to welcome himself back in a way. In no way could he just face everyone so soon, so he expected this to be an easier way to say 'hello' to Julius again after everything and being absent for about a week now. Maybe some more, he wasn't sure, everything had blurred for him.

The only thing was, he didn't expect to find Julius actually working in his office. His original plan was to wait there until he returned or Marx popped in, but opening the window and stepping inside to have Julius turned in his seat to look at (Y/n) wide eyed was not apart of the plan.

". . . and my hello?" (Y/n) gave a lax smirk as Julius looked up at him in shock.

"You don't get a hello for leaving like that" Julius turned back to his work just like that,

Julius working? something was up.

"What? why not? I made the effort to return atleast, my original plan was to -" (Y/n) took the liberty to step out from the window now, walking to Julius's side and kneeling down to see his work but instead caught sight of Julius's pouty expression and watery eyes.

"Hey- you can't tell me I'm making everyone cry-" (Y/n) gave a nervous laugh, standing back up as he placed a hand in the blonde hair of the Wizard King and pulled him into his side, ruffling his hair lightly to try and help him relax a bit "There there"

Julius didn't say anything but only hummed and bit the inside of his cheek, a tear from his face slipping by before he used the palm of his hand to wipe it away quickly, nudging his face into (Y/n)'s side to hide away his embarrassment for crying.

"Look at me, my shirt's already ruined and here I've had 2 people already cry into it" (Y/n) chuckled lightly when Julius murmured irritated at his words, "Does it smell like flowers atleast?" he asked sarcastically, just for Julius to peek up from his side and looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows and puffy eyes "Like you haven't showered in weeks"

(Y/n) hissed at the words a bit "Tch ouch" he flicked at Julius's forehead lightly, making him flinch at the small sting before raising a hand and holding it with a whine "That was uncalled fooorrrr"

"Don't care" (Y/n) teased, looking over at the pile of work that had been completed and were pending.

"You've been working more than usual, finally stressing over finances?" He knew it probably because of his disappearance, considering that the Wizard King cried at just the sight of his sudden return.

With no reply, he took that as a 'yes' to his thought.

"God you all stress over nothing, I'll be disappearing like that more often to train on my own-"

"But this time you'll be telling me in advance that you'll be out instead of disappering suddenly." Julius butted in, head resting against (Y/n)'s side as he looked at all the papers aswell.

"You worried me and some of the captains, everyone was stressed- wait! DO THEY EVEN KNOW YOUR BACK?!?!" Julius broke out into a yell, pulling off of the (h/c)-ette who looked down at him, a hand leaning against the desk to be comfortable.

"Hm? oh, only Leopold- Fuegoleon's younger brother was the one who urged me to come see you" (Y/n) picked up a paper to see a doodle of a messy signature at the bottom of the paper.

Julius probably played around with his writings when he got bored while working, variations of his writing littering the papers.

"We have to tell them then!"

"I killed people that day Julius, maybe tell them when I'm out of the capital so they don't go ape shit when they see me? let it sit in for them so when I return they don't try to strangle me right away" (Y/n) placed the paper back down, seeing that it was a list of mission reports from the Black Bulls, he probably should stick his nose into their buisness.

Julius took note and picked up the report right away, reading over it again and smiling giddily "You can stay with the Black Bulls members then! they are currently on break so you can hide away and bond with them before returning. I was thinking of making adjustments to your rotations so you can have more freedom and work in the shadows since you don't seem comfortable with many public appearances, does it sound good?"

(Y/n) was surprised, that sounds perfect actually. With his own privacy, he wouldn't need to work with all the criticism from civilians or the fear of hurting any people nearby.

"I think you're my little angel sent from the heavens, saving my ass here" (Y/n) laughed and reached down, tugging at Julius's cheek teasingly as he complained "ow ow ow" and yet he still smiled, grateful that (Y/n) was back.

"Promise you'll keep contact this time?"

"Hit my line blondie, I promise" (Y/n) gave a small soft smile as Julius's smile formed into a grin at the promise.

🔖

"Ah, you must be (Y/n)"

"Guilty" (Y/n) hummed, eyeing the man sitting on the large couch with his legs crossed, a cigarette between his lips "You must be Yami Su-"

"(Y/n)?!?!?"

The two turned to see the familiar dirty blonde burst through the doors, breaking into a run towards (Y/n) and hugging his middle.

"WHERE WERE YOU?!? YOU DISAPPEARED!!" Asta wailed out, clinging to (Y/n) as Yami growled "Oi! that's our new member, get your grabby hands off of him!"

"B-BUT!"

"Asta!"

Noelle came running through the doors, panting as she tried to catch her breath. Leaning against the open door to see the new face, ". . . (Y/n)?" She asked.

Huh, miss royal remembered him.

"God" Yami sighed as he heard the ruckus off the other members pour into the living room.

"A NEW MEMBER?!"  
A teen with a purple and black mohawk walked down the stairs and into the living room, the familiar blonde teen with electric blue eyes following behind as he ran over to (Y/n) "YOU! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOY IN AGES, CAN WE FIGHT?! YOU WERE AMAZING BACK IN THE DUNGEON!"

"Stop being so loud" A woman, half naked walked down with a bottle of wine.

(Y/n)'s eyes accidentally wondered down before he raised them back up out of decency and looked away, already feeling a bit uncomfortable by all the noise.

"a new friend, I can't wait to meet you properly- would you like some tea?"

The voice was a mere mumble, looking to his right to come face to face with a man with a hat and dark lips. Oddly pale-

(Y/n) placed a hand over Asta's back protectively and took a few steps away before lowering it again.

"IS IT A PRETTY GIRL?!"   
Loud steps came from the stairs as a guy with light brown hair came into view, an earing in each ear with a green shirt under his overcoat.

At the sight of (Y/n) his mood deflated with a quiet 'oh'

A large woman- man- or just a person came into view. They leaned down to take a better look at him before standing back up and taking their seat on the couch.

"What is it?! I'm trying to admire my photo of Marie!"

how many of them were there.

(Y/n) was starting to dread this, why did he agree with his little angel again? this was shit-

"Oi, break it up! stop making such a ruckus-" Yami spoke up, only for a scream to catch everyone's attention.

"GAH!! SCARY DEAD MAN IS HEREE!" Charmy screamed out after stepping out the kitchen to only see the man that terrified her.

Running back into the kitchen, she blocked everything off, not allowing anyone inside.

The loud ruckus quieted down atleast, something (Y/n) was thankful for.

". . . dead man??" The half naked woman asked confused, looking at (Y/n) who hummed "Guess I scared her a little"

"A little?" The brunette quirked an eyebrow, "She locked herself in the kitchen!"

"I've seen worse" (Y/n) replied blankly, a laugh errupting from Yami which caught everyone's attention again.

"I think I'm going to like this newbie!" Yami laughed again.

🔖

"You've been quiet (Y/n)" Asta pointed out, looking over to the (h/c)-ette who flew next to him and Magna on his own broom.

"Sorry, just thinking I guess. . . Oi, and thanks for letting me joing you Asta. I don't think I would've been able to survive in the base for any longer" (Y/n) replied, humming as Magna scoffed "The base is an amazing place!"

"Too rowdy"

"SO?! IT'S A GREAT PLACE! AND WHY EVEN GO WITH ASTA, HE IS JUST AS LOUD!" Magna snapped back.

"I'M NOT THAT LOUD!" Asta retorted to his senior.

"Asta knows when to quiet down though, he may be a pain in the ass but I'm willing to put up with him" (Y/n) interrupted them both as he kept his focuse to the upcoming city before them "It doesn't mean I don't like the company you all give, it's just a bit overwhelming for me is all"

Magna quieted down, giving one final small 'tsk' before slowing to a stop when they arrived to Nean.

"Alright, alright fine. You're off the hook this time, I'm feeling forgiving is all" Magna mumbled as he lowered to the entrance of the city, dropping Asta off as (Y/n) jumped down from his broom and holstered it.

"I'll see you two soon, don't get in trouble!" Magna called out before flying off, Asta waving him goodbye with both arms as (Y/n) gave a small wave.

"Come on! let's go see Rebecca!" Asta grabbed (Y/n)'s hand and pulled him through the city.

The whole small city was friendly, everything seemed pretty organized aswell.

The paths were paved well, the ground clear of trash, and the people who welcomed them was nice to say the least.

(Y/n) didn't mind that Asta pulled him around by his hand, other than the bandages he found it to be comforting.

"I think Rebecca's restaurant should be around here. . ." Asta eyed the signs until he saw the one the red-head told him was hers.

"Here! come on, she's a blast, you'll enjoy her company!"

"I doubt that"

.  
.  
.

(Y/n) stood there now, watching from the side lines as Asta played with two of Rebecca's siblings, spinning them around on his arms as the said red-head smiled from the side.

"Mr, what's your name?" A little brunette girl asked him, pulling at his shirt lightly "(Y/n)" He replied a bit coldly, making the girl frown before she springed into a small smile "I'm Marie!"

"Marie. . . it's a pretty name" (Y/n) didn't knoe what to say really, but the name was pretty indeed. Reminded him of previous queens from his studies, Maria de la Rose, Marier Fonswa, and many more.

A pretty name indeed.

"What happened to your hands?" She asked, noticing the bandages that were wrapped tightly over his palms and circled over his knuckled for a grip.

"I've been training, my mana isn't particularly what most would call 'safe' so this is a little price I pay for using it" (Y/n) explained, kneeling down so she could look at the bandages properly.

Her little hands touched lightly over his palms, feeling it to be bruised as she frowned "You should rest if it hurts then! getting hurt won't help!"

"I know, I know, you're not the first to tell me this kid" (Y/n) gave a small amused smile as Marie puffed her cheeks out in frustration.

"I'm Marie, not kid!" She crossed her arms over her chest, "oops, sorry kid" (Y/n) chuckled and ruffled her hair lightly.

"Marie, you're next!" Asta placed down the two other kids and knelt down to pick up Marie as (Y/n) pulled back.

That is until Asta was slammed into the ground, a foot over his cheek pining him down.

**"You get away from her this instant you trash."**

"Oh! you're the senior with the noosebleed and the sister complex!" Asta yelled out, just for his face to get grounded into the ground again.

"Who had a nosebleed and a sister complex you muscle-bound runt? I'll stomp you to death"

(Y/n) walked over and kicked the other's foot off of Asta, knocking him off balance and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

**"I suggest you go throw yourself off a cliff before even trying stomping the idiot to death"**

(Y/n) transferred his grip to the other's neck, choking him as he opened his grimoire to defend himself.

"(Y/N), woah there! I'm fine, I'm in great shape so he would've needed to do more to actually hurt me" Asta stood up from the ground and pulled (Y/n)'s away from his senior.

Gently patting the bandaged hand of his friend to help him relax again "There there, see? I'm alright, nothing is wrong" Asta reassured as (Y/n) slowly nodded "I'll talk this over, you go take a little walk, it might happen again and I don't want to stress you out" Asta told the taller, looking up at him and smiling as (Y/n)'s shoulders stiffened.

". . . fine. . . I don't like him, so if I end up fighting the man don't blame me" (Y/n) grumbled, slowly pulling his hand away from Asta's hold before giving a small wave to Marie, Rebecca and the kid's as he passed by.

Sighing tiredly.

He's been tense recently since the incident with Fuegoleon, Asta seemed to catch on before anyone else that he was nervous.

He knew Asta could come and get him when it was time to go, so he didn't worry too much.

Stopping by the store, he bought a few snacks for the kids and a new set of bandages for his hands since it seemed to already be staining.

Soon to see Asta running over, grabbing his hand and dragging him over to Rebecca's house while blabbering over something he couldn't quite understand by how fast he was talking.

"Rebecca said that she has only 2 rooms, do you want to share with me? if not I can always take the floor!" Asta asked as they approached the house, slowing down as (Y/n) adjusted the bag he had slung over his shoulder.

"I'll join you on the bed, I usually stay up until the am so you won't need to worry about when we should sleep. I'll just come join you when I get tired" (Y/n) said, stepping inside the house to be welcomed by the fresh smell of food.

Rebecca at the half stove half oven set up, cooking as everyone took their places at the table.

The sight of Gauche on the ground lightened (Y/n)'s mood a bit.

.  
.  
.

"You don't need to help cleaning up (Y/n)!" Rebecca yelped when (Y/n) pulled off his overcoat and grimoire, leaving them on a chair along with his broom near the door.

"It's alright, it's the least I can do in return" (Y/n) walked over to the sink and started to clean up the dished with the sponge. Drying them with the towel as he placed them on the rack just to be safe, soon wiping down the tables and broomed the floor.

Rebecca was surprised, she usually didn't get help to clean up.

"T-thank you so much (Y/n)! I can handle it from here!" Rebecca worried that he might feel forced to do this and pleaded for him to go and rest.

"Just go to bed already, you're probably tired, I'll finish everything up down here. No charge, just run along now" (Y/n) scoffed, lifting the chairs onto the tables to get the dirt under them.

After hesitating, Rebecca sighed before hanging up her apron. "Don't over work yourself, you are the guest after all" She gave a small smile before retreating upstairs.

(Y/n) rolled his eyes as he continued to clean, wiping down the windows, dividing the dirty and clean table cloths and throwing them into the laundry, wiping down the counter top and seats, and watered the little plants that were inside.

"Ah, you're still awake?"

Asta stood in the hallway, rubbing his eye tiredly with a mix of a yawn between his words "You should go rest, this is your time off anyways"

"Just. . . stressed I guess" (Y/n) placed the glass he was using to water the plants back into the sink.

Asta frowned as he walked over and leaned his head against (Y/n)'s shoulder to try and comfort him "Everything will be alright, we're just here for a little so don't worry"

Asta grabbed (Y/n)'s hand and lead him back upstairs "Come to bed, it's already late enough"

(Y/n) shook his head before smiling softly, following Asta up to their shared room to sleep.

🔖

Asta was tucked right up to (Y/n)'s chest, back to chest with a leg sprawled out and a hand on (Y/n)'s forearm.

The door creaked open to reveal Gauche standing there in his uniform, open grimoire as he glared down at the pair cuddled up.

**"Die, Asta"**

A mirror appeared at his side and a shot was fired, but Asta sneezed just that moment and flipped over and ontop of (Y/n), missing the ray my just a millimeter.

"WAAAA- WACHUU" He jumped at the sudden shot, (Y/n) got up soon with a grumble.

"Mister Gauche?!"

"Die, Asta" was his only reply to Asta,

"WHY?!

wh-WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?!"

"I won't let you marry Marie! I'll stop it before it happens, with your death!" Gauche gave a menacing glare to the shorter.

"And what's it gotta do with me?" (Y/n) mumbled, sitting up as he pulled on his boots incase anything escalated.

Asta pulled out his sword and deflected the attacks sent my Gacuhe suddenly "She was just talking! She's a little kid! ONLY COWARDS ATTACK PEOPLE IN THEIR SLEEP"

"I don't care, as long as I kill you!"

A double appeared next to Gauche, identical to the original.

(Y/n) had his grimoire, overcoat and broom outside, so all he was left with was his own little tricks.

"Your crime. . . is having met my sister" the two Gauche's said at the same time, overwhelming Asta with attacks.

"WAAH BUT THAT MEANS THAT PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE'S A CRIMINAL!" Asta couldn't keep up much longer with the dual attacks, soon being sent flying through the room

"Shut up and die"

"DYAAAH THIS ISN'T EVEN OUR HOUSE!" Asta called out,

(Y/n) jumped down and caught Asta in his arms before he had hit the ground, carefully placing him down.

"You good?"

"Y-yeah, thanks (Y/n)!" Asta flashed him a smile of relief before he looked around to see the whole place covered in snow.

"Suh- Snow?! When did this all. . . I mean isn't it too early for-" Asta looked around, touching the ground to feel the snow under his hands.

"This isn't natural, that's for sure" (Y/n) finished his sentence, looking around and stretching an arm out to feel the snow flakes land against his fingers.

"Die, nobody cares" Gauche sent another ray from the room in the house, to which (Y/n) blocked with a barrier.

**"That's enough"**

"Wh- WHAT ARE YOU THREE DOING?!" Rebecca came running out the house with a blanket over her shoulders,

"Rebecca, I'm really sorry about the house!" Asta tried to apologize, looking back up to see all the damage.

"NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR THAT! THE KIDS ARE GONE"

\- - - - - - - - -  
4200 words  
unedited


	13. - Dionysus -

The yells for children echoed through the whole town, parents desperate to find the kids.

"Chris?!"  
"Urian where are you!?"  
"FAWN IS GONE!"

(Y/n) shoved Asta out of the way from one of Gauche's attack so he could keep talking to Rebecca,

"Hey! what's wrong with the town?!" Asta asked Rebecca,

but a familiar face appeared, shivering "Snow falling out of nowhere at this time of the year? That's insane!!"

"Noelle?!" Asta gasped at the appearance of his friend,

"I saw lots of children leave for the mountain all of a sudden a little while ago,

what was that? magic? some kind of festival?" Noelle asked, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to keep warm from the cold.

"You mean-" Rebecca was cut off by one of Gauche's attacks in the background, words getting layered over by Asta's screams as he ran and dodged the attacks.

"By the way Noelle, what are you doing here anyways?" Asta asked, catching his breath next to (Y/n) who reached a hand down and gently patted his head.

" I- I just happened to be passing through!" Noelle stuttered, blushing a bit before she started to grumble the lines of 'annoying Asta. . .'

"This snow. . . I sense someone's magic from it- a spell that controls it's targets. It may be limited to children who'se magic has yet to develop. Several of ours have been taken aswell! kidnapping children. . . what do they plan to do with them?" A old nun walked out of the church, hand holding a snow flake in her hand.

(Y/n) nudged Asta, then pointed at the woman and crouched down to whisper to him "Who's the lady?"

Asta leaned up and whispered back, "I call her Sister Granny"

"That didn't fucking help." (Y/n) pulled back with a sigh, sister granny huh?

The pairs attention was grabbed when Gauche picked up the nun by her collar, about to throw her a punch before Asta, being the person he was, threw himself between and got punched in the face.

"Asta. . . YOU LITTLE-"

"Now now Master Gauche! just calm down a little. . ." Asta waved his hand dismissively before getting in a stance and slamming his head against the back of Gauche's head, sending him into the ground "ALL RIGHT?!!?"

Standing back up, Asta held his head up high "A magic knight should always keep a cool head!"

As the pair went back and forth, they all concluded along with Sister Theresa (he learnt her name after Gauche had attempted to punch her) that Gauche would be able to find Maire and the other kids by following the magic he left with her.

"(Y/n), come with us!" Asta spoke up, hanging off if Gauche's broom as he looked down to the (h/c)-ette.

"I can't use my magic on a rescue mission like this Asta, I'll catch up soon though. I have to grab my things anyways, I'd take too long. Go on ahead" (Y/n) waved to Asta, watching him leave with Gauche and Sister Theresa.

Leaving him, Rebecca and Noelle together.

"I'll gather everyone back inside to wait for the return of the kids! You two go ahead and do what you must in my house!" Rebecca ran off towards a couple who where crying over their missing child.

Noelle fidgeted with the hems of her skirt while she walked inside the house, pulling out from her pocket the emergency hologram to contact the magic knights.

Before she opened it though, she waited for (Y/n) to close the door.

". . . What happened that day, in the capital when we were attacked? the crows, all the blood and reports from the civilians" Noelle spoke up, watching as (Y/n)'s hold on the door knob kept firm.

". . . I'm not used to the 'saving lives' line of work, I'm used to pushing others out of the way and doing what I deem 'good' for the mission" (Y/n) slowly released his grip on the door knob, "I'm taking my time on this rescue mission because I don't want the same to happen as last time, in which I was pictured as a monster by the civilians due to my magic"

His voice wasn't all too quiet, but was hesitant on explaining.

Noelle went and took her seat at one of the tables, listening quietly while (Y/n) explained.

". . . forget it- I'm getting sappy" (Y/n) scoffed, going to grab her broom and holstering it on his back. Picking up his grimoire, he placed it in it's specified pouch.

"B-But you weren't done expla-"

"It's still touchy, I'm at fault for not being careful and supervising your battle. Fuegoleon is in a coma because of me and I've been hiding from the other Magic knights ever since, hell they might even think I died" (Y/n) interrupted Noelle, not wanting this conversation to go on any longer.

"Noelle, can I trust you to keep this conversation between us? I don't wish to be exposed yet to the other magic knights in fear of their reactions" (Y/n) grabbed his coat, pulling it on.

The dark grey now stained a bit by the previous blood from the exact battle the spoke about.

Noelle frowned, the expression on (Y/n)'s face was grim, frowning at the memory from the battle "I promise, be careful this time. I may not know you as well as Asta but if he trusts you, then I'll trust you"

That seemed to make things better, (Y/n)'s frown pulled into a weak smile "You really have been moved by him, haven't you?"

Noelle's face lit up into a bright red, bottom lip stuttering in embarrassment "N-NOT LIKE THAT!"

"Teasing, just teasing-" (Y/n) gave a small laugh, smiling now as he walked over and ruffled the royal's bangs.

"I'll be off now, I trust you to watch over everyone. Call the magic knights, I have a feeling things might escalsteescalate a bit too far" (Y/n)'s smile fell, "I'll be having a couple crows flying about, do you remember their appearance?"

"Gross and bloody? yeah" Noelle scoffed as her hair was disheveled "Go hurry up and save Bakasta from doing something he'll regret"

She opened the hologram device, letting it catch on the capital's signal as (Y/n) chuckled before walking out of the house.

Closing the door behind him as he looked up to the sky, hand reaching out at the sight of the birds resting on the roof tops as a couple flew down and seated themselves on the chairs outside, on the ground or landed on his arm.

A few started cawing as others attempted to,

They blended in well with most birds when looked at from a far, so (Y/n) has had them all flying around the town while he was awake incase anything happened. But of course, the moment he is dragged to bed by Asta he finds out that the kids to the city were taken.

"6 survey the city, the rest come with me" (Y/n) ordered out as he pulled his broom from his back, placing it on the ground as he stepped on it, the broom leaving the ground with (Y/n) atop of it.

The crows and smaller birds all divided themselves when they reached the height needed.

A few watched in amazement from their windows at the sight before them, eyes widening as (Y/n) flew off towards the direction that Asta and the other's left to.

🔖

"(Y/n)- where is he?!" Gauche ran through the city with Finral on his tail.

After the snow magic user helped defeat his brother and Sally, the leader to the eye of the midnight sun appeared to save Sally.

Yami and sent him and all the kids back to the town along with Sister Theresa, but he had to return to the battle to help-

He needed (Y/n) for help, if the rumors were true that meant that he could kill the leader in an instant.

"G-GAUCHE WHY ARE YOU CALLING OUT FOR HIM?!" Finral panted, catching up to Gauche who entered Rebecca's house suddenly, slamming the door open.

"Noelle, where's (Y/n)?!"

"(Y/n)? he left about half an hour ago- W-WAIT HE WASN'T WITH YOU GUYS?!" Noelle was nervous now, if you weren't at the cave, and if you weren't here in the town- where were you?!

"And his birds? are they here at least?!" Noelle stood up from the table walking out towards the window to see the birds flying through the sky. She released the sigh she was holding on, placing a hand over her chest.

"Give me a second Gauche, Finral!" Noelle passed by the two and outside, raising her hand to her mouth, she whistled and stretched her arm out.

A crow noticed her and dove down, slowing down and sitting on her arm before giving a distorted squawk.

"Where is (Y/n)?"

Gauche and Finral left from the front door, confused by what Noelle was doing.

That was until the crow started to gurgle, the pair's expression twisting into one of disgust "ew ew ew" Finral covered his mouth and looked away.

**" PlAntIng his MAgic iN the aReA of The mOUnTain "**

"Thank you" Noelle excused the crow, raising his arm up as the crow flew off "He seems to be planting his magic in the mountain, I'd be guessing he has a plan" Noelle explained to the pair.

Finral was still trying to catch his breath from what he just witnessed, a dead crow, he saw part of it's skull and muscle- the gurgle from what he guessed was it's own organs that were reaching into it's throat-

"That was disgusting. . ." He mumbled, 

"Tch, useless" Gauche turned to Finral, "Let's go"

🔖

Yami panted as he tried to block all the attacks sent to him, Gauche was out of mana along with Finral and Asta was too hurt to continue, so it was up to him to defend them and fend off the three sudden opponents.

Fana the Hateful  
Rhya the Disloyal  
and Vetto the Despair 

That is until when Vetto tried to attack Yami again, his arm was sent flying off.

Everyone's eyes widened at the sound of birds, squawks, screeches and flapping, turning to look as birds flooded through the entrances to the caves.

All with the aspect of the dead eyes, open wounds, bleeding, and the gurgling.

The birds spun in a circle for a moment before separating and taking their seat on the sides of the cave, perching on ledges, on the abandoned laboratory desks, or rubble from the broken ceiling.

(Y/n) stood infront of Yami with his broom holstered and grimoire open.

**"Need a hand?"**

"YOU-"

Vetto was cut off again when (Y/n) flicked his wrist and the leg from his knee down was sent flying, landing far off into the rest of the cave.

"VETTO, GET OUT OF THERE!" Rhya called out for him, 

This wasn't part of the plan, what was going on?

The mana the (h/c) had was almost senseless, as if he were like the anti-magic brat by how little mana he was able to sense.

A smirk grew on (Y/n)'s face, calm and lax as he wrenched his hand back and curled it into a fist, punching Vetto straight across the face with a reinforced mana, sending him flying through the cave.

"VETTO!" Rhya watched his friend be thrown throughout the cave and coming in contact with the opposite wall with a crash that brought down more of the cieling.

Fana raised her hand and sent an attack "I hate you, I'll never forgive you. I'll kill you"

(Y/n) disappeared though, shocking everyone as the other black bulls suddenly disappeared soon after.

"Where did they go?!" 

The crows started squawking, as if mocking them for losing the people they were trying to defeat.

"What's going on, why's everything going red?!" Vetto stood up with a growl, arms healed as he popped them into place.

Indeed, a red smog seemed to seep into the cave, covering all light as it grew clouded.

Silhouettes of people appeared through out the cave, the ground twisted into what could be marble with a rich red carpet that ran in some directions, simulating a path to walk on through the whole cave. 

The silhouettes varying between men and woman who laughed, danced madly, screamed and cheered their glasses. 

None of their expressions visible, some stood next to potted plants, others stumbled across the floor and laughed drunkly as if they had just had their 7th drink.

". . . what's going on?" Rhya was suddenly shoved by a silhoutte that forced their way past him.

The laughing grew as eyes turned to look at them, some pointed before mocking them "What are theese bozos? so tense" 

"Are they travelers at least? I'd never invite anyone from out of-"

"SHUT UP!" Vetto snapped, attempting to claw through the silhouettes, only to phase through them and stumble.

Everything grew overwhelming from there, the air grew dense from the smells of alchohol, wine, sweat, and sex. Loud yells, screams, loud laughter, dancing, and chaos broke pursuit.

"DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS"

They all chanted, and mocked the three before them.

"WHAT IS THIS SPE-"

Before Rhya could continue, he felt something stab through his chest, looking down to see a hand force through it with his heart held in a bandaged (s/c) hand.

The chanting grew, loud, cheerful, and desperate.

"DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS!"

Rhya spat out blood as he felt his heart get pulled from his chest, the ripping sound being grotesque as he fell to his knees, clutching at where his heart was. Feeling his breathing stop just to fall dead.

(Y/n)'s smirk grew to be inhuman, laughing as he raised the heart up towards the crowd **"WHO IS YOUR GOD?!"**

"DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS!!"

**"WHO IS YOUR GOD, MORTALS?!"**

"DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS!!"

Fana could comprehend the scene before her, Rhya bleed out on the floor, 

"Rhya!" Vetto yelled out as he leaned out to attack at (Y/n) from behind, only for (Y/n) to disappear into a cloud of red smoke.

Smoke piled up behind them, forming into a large marble throne, grape vines littering the throne, a glass of wine on the arm rest as (Y/n) reappeared on the throne. Sitting there as he grabbed the glass of wine, raising it towards the crowd that desperately ran towards him **"AM I YOUR GOD?"**

"DIONYSUS, DIONYSUS IS OUR GOD!"

The crowd yelled out.

**"WHAT DO I BRING YOU ALL?!"**

"ECSTASY, PARTY, WINE, CHAOS!!"

(Y/n) stood up on his throne, Rhya's heart still in hand as he threw it to the marble seating and stepped on it, popping it as blood spilled over the chair.

**"Go crazy"**

The crowd screamed spacing out again as they surrounded Vetto, Fana and the dead corspe to Rhya.

Overwhelming,

this was all overwhelming to a point that it was too stressing.

Fana curled in herself to avoid the hands that tried to grab at her, Vetto ripped the hands that tried to grab him, only for the hands to reform again and pull at him.

"Rhya, Rhya is-"

Fana broke into a half scream, blatantly terrified. 

But then the red smoke faded, the silhouettes flew away with the small breeze as (Y/n) disappered on his throne.

The cave returned to normal.

Fana gripping at her chest, gritting her teeth as the sense of being overwhelmed still lingered, breathing heavily.

Vetto panted, eyes dialated as he snapped his head to see the surroundings change, hands shaking as his chest heaved.

Behind where the throne was, stood (Y/n) with a cut on his cheek, Rhya held to his chest with his chin tilted up by the (h/c)-ette who forced him to look at the other two.

Rhya could move, back forced tightly against (Y/n)'s chest, making him unable to try and attack him. His chest was hurting as if he really had his heart ripped out, the phantom pain lingering.

"Wh-what was that?!" Asta helped Yami back up from the ground, looking out in shock.

When (Y/n)'s grimoire glowed, the three who were attacking them were surrounded by a red smoke. Too thick for Asta to even see through so he had no clue what his older did.

A sudden ray of light stabbed into (Y/n)'s side, forcing him to release his hold on Rhya, giving the copy-magic user enough time to send (Y/n) flying over towards them.

But as soon as Asta got ready to catch him, he was caught by someone he never thought would do so.

"Rosey" (Y/n) gave a small smile, the ray of light still ledged into his side when Charlotte caught him in time.

"What did you even do? we weren't even able to enter properly" Charlotte scoffed, face stone cold as she walked over to Yami and placed the (h/c)-ette next to the Black-Bulls captain.

"So you ARE alive" Nozel bittered, staring coldly towards (Y/n) and the captain "Damn, so you thought I died? kinda harsh" (Y/n) gave a dry laugh before wincing as the ray of light shifted in his side.

"Ow ow ow" He whined, hand grabbing the ray of light and ripping it out of his side with a hiss.

"You alright?" Yami asked, poking (Y/n)'s shoulder lightly, "I'm not going on a break with you guys ever again" he complained, swatting Yami's hand away.

"It's been a while, hasn't it (Y/n)?" Jack asked with a hum, "what did you even do to them? they're totally out of it"

"Just a lil something I've been working on" (Y/n) replied with a tired smile, leaning back against the rubble "Mm, I wouldn't mind dying to blood loss"

"Shut up, you're going to live for Marie's sake!" Gauche leaned over the rubble and slapped (Y/n)'s face lightly to keep him awake.

"Shut the fuck up, I'm trying to die" (Y/n) grumbled.

"NO DYING (Y/N)!" Asta scolded him and leaned over the rubble beside Gauche, hitting the top of (Y/n)'s head "SO WAKEY WAKEY!"

🔖

"(Y/n), (Y/nnnnnn)~"

"Julius, I'm still healing, cut me some slack" (Y/n) flipped to his side, turning to look at the blonde who peaked over the bed and eyed him.

"What was that spell you used in the caves? according to everyone it had the three shaken up the entire battle" Julius asked, planting his chin against the bed.

Currently, (Y/n) was in the main headquarters, healing up from last time. His side wound was better now, along with his cheek, but honestly he was just exhausted from not receiving a proper break. No one had visited by his request since he feared that he could face them just yet.

"I use my Ritual Zone properly this time, gave them a party" (Y/n) replied tiredly, flipping away from Julius "Now let me go back to bed, I'm tired"

"But (Y/nnnnn) there's a meeting I need you to attend!" Julius threw himself ontop of (Y/n) to annoy him, earning a grumble instead.

"I don't like meetings"

"It's important, we have an infiltrator amongst the captains"

Julius pulled himself off of (Y/n) with a frown, "I don't want the kingdom to get attacked again, and I trust you to make sure that when we confront the infiltrator, nothing will go wrong" 

(Y/n) kept quiet, until he sighed and sat up,

"Fine, fine, you owe me though, I just want to spend a day relaxing at this point, no running around" 

Julius's frown flipped into a smile, glad that (Y/n) was willing to help, "Of course! we have a deal then, come on then!" Julius ran to the door, leaving (Y/n) to pull on his boots to catch up.

  
"Coming, coming"

.  
.  
.

The captains stood in a line before the Wizard King, Marx and Asta on each side while (Y/n) stood next to Asta. 

"It's. . . the Captain of the Purple Orcas, Gueldre Poizot" one of the captured eye of the midnight sun members confessed.

"RIDICULOUS, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!?" Poizot snapped, "AS IF I'D EVER BETRAY THE CLOVER KINGDOM!!"

All eyes turned to the Purple Orcas Captain, 

  
"I've heard dark rumors about you, I assumed they were false but. . ." Charlotte spoke up,

"I knew you were probably up to something sketchy, but that's just. . ." Jack also pitched in,

"This is impossible, don't be an idiot!" Poizot argued back, growing nervous as the glares grew. But the one that seemed the most terrifying coming from the Golden Dawn Captain, The Wizard King, and the (h/c)-ette who looked at him in such a disinterest that grew to be mocking.

In an act of desperation, Poizot pointed towards the captives "They're trying to frame me as a traitor!"

"They're only telling me what they know, plain and simple. Information obtained with my memory exchange magic is absolute!" Marx replied,

Yami placed a hand on Poizot's shoulder, shifting his cigarette to the other side of his mouth "All right, calm down hard ham. Why not just let the guy with the bowl cut head look at your memories? if you really are clean ham"

Poizot's expression shifted, attempting to go poker "Well. . ."

"What? you embarassed?" Yami eyed him rudely,

Poizot opened his grimoire, flipping through the pages as he separated himself from the rest of the Purple Orcas "THIS IS SOMESORT OF TRAP, I-I'LL CLEAR MY NAME. THIS IS A STRATEGIC RETREAT!"

He then proceeded to turn invisible, shocking everyone.

"He's gone?!" Asta said, turning to look at (Y/n) who nodded slightly.

"I'm going in ahead Julius" (Y/n) placed a hand on Julius's shoulder and patted it a bit "You want to see my ritual zone? **then hurry it up** "

With that, (Y/n) faded into a dark red smog, phasing past everyone and through the doors. Landing outside to where all his birds waited by the branches of the trees.

He cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck to release all the tension from the healing process.

Asta came running through the hallway and slashed at what would've been thin air, but Poizot was hit as his cloak was lowered.

At the sight of (Y/n), Asta pinned himself against the wall as (Y/n) stuck his out, the large red smog growing around them, collecting a little thinner this time to not drag Asta into the attack.

Poizot stood there in the red smog, snapping to turn to (Y/n) who gave a small smirk. Eyes littered behind (Y/n), squawking and gurgling.

A few birds flew out from behind him and towards Poizot and scatching against him repeatedly, "WHAT ARE YOU-"

The captain tried to raise his grimoire up to attack, only to find that it wasn't reacting.

**"Who's your god?"**

". . . wha-" Poizot was mid question until a crowd of silhouettes surrounded him, all screaming and yelling out for their said 'god'

The air grew dense, feeling suffocating as he brought a hand to his throat at how tight it felt.

A silhouette walked over to (Y/n) and handed him what was a wine glass,

"DIONYSUS, OUR DIONYSUS!!"

**"And what do I bring?"**

All the silhouettes turned to look at Poizot, the smiles being what was visible from their expressions, they all started to laugh and mock him, pointing and shoving him back and forth as they passed him.

The eyes to all the birds behind (Y/n) didn't move, as if watching out of entertainment.

(Y/n) flipped the wine glass, all the wine pouring out of it and onto the floor.

**"Our ecstacy"**

And with thoose words, Poizot fell to his knees, the sudden overwhelming feeling of all eyes on him, eyeing him like some useless toy. His throat was tight, voice hoarse as his chest tightened and hands shook.

Then it all disappeared, leaving (Y/n) standing there empty handed without the wine glass but the same birds staring at him. Almost seeming dissapointed at the weak show-

"Mr. Poizot! hold still a minute"

The youngest captain opened his grimoire, capturing the paralyzed Poizot in a painting against the ground.

Seconds later, the entrance to the building was busted wide open by all the captains.

"(Y/n)! you did it again! d-does it hurt at all?!" Asta tried to walk over to his senior before the Aqua deer captain started to spin him around and talk to him.

The captains walked around the captured Poizot before going to (Y/n)'s side,

"The shrimp is right, you seem tense, does it hurt at all?" Jack walked over and gently patted (Y/n)'s shoulders and down his arms to check before placing one ontop of his head to annoy him.

"Tired, you all keep dragging me around for shit that I'm sure my mana is on it's last legs" (Y/n) crossed his arms **"Get the fuck off me skinny bean"**

"Oi! don't go calling me that shit!" Jack was close to knuckling (Y/n)'s head before he was shoved out of the way by Yami "Do you even shut up?"

"(Y/n), you've been reckless theese days, expect discipline as soon as you have rotations with me" Nozel walked over, glaring up at the slightly taller "Mmm. . . sure birdy"

"Don't call me that."

"Of course birdy"

Nozel's patience was close to snapping, but it was saved by Charlotte who walked over and handed (Y/n) a little pouch.

"Seeds for your birds, since you've been handling so many I thought it would be useful" Charlotte handed them to him as if she were giving him a diamond, pride spilling from her as (Y/n) slowly took it.

Opening it as he saw that indeed, have seeds, grabbing one, he flicked it towards Nozel with a grin "Here birdy birdy-"

"(Y/n)!"

"Alright, alright-" (Y/n) closed the pouch and wrapped the ties around his grimoire holster after getting scolded by Charlotte. Then a small rock hit the side of his head, "Catch, dog" Nozel gritted his teeth, glaring at him while (Y/n) rubbed the side of his head.

"Charlotte, I apologize but all my birds have their organs blow up from the inside, their stomach doesn't really work" (Y/n) acted as the rock never happened and just rubbed the side of his head lightly.

". . . ah, sorry. . ." Charlotte didn't know what to say, she just gave (Y/n) seeds to feed dead birds.

How- how does one feel about that even?

"HAH, YOU GAVE HIM SEEDS FOR DEAD BIRDS!" Yami laughed along with Jack,

"SILENCE, YOU FILTHY MEN!!" Charlotte snapped back at them in embarrassment,

William and Julius stood by the entrance, smiling at the exchange between captains and the newest member to the royal knights.

\- - - - - - - - -  
4500 words  
unedited


	14. - Week Worth -

(Y/n) was excused after the interrogation with Poizot to go and rest in the castle.

He'd make today the best of it, even if his subconscious begged him to train to feel somewhat productive, he decided to dedicate it towards rest.

Julius was in a meeting with the Black Bull members, leaving (Y/n) to wait for him outside his office so they could finally relax together.

All the birds he had were resting around the castle, perched on the rooftops, sitting comfortably on the ends of the tree branches, or leaning against window seals. Blending in quite well with the usual pigeons and crows.

The door to the office opened, revealing Yami and Asta who stepped out with what could be described as a worry or passion for what they were told by the Wizard King.

"(Y/n)! promise you'll finally rest up while we're out on our mission?" Asta ran over to the taller who was leaning against the wall, grabbing his bandaged hands in his own.

"Whatever you say shrimpy" (Y/n) gave a small smirk, feeling as Asta gave an offended gasp and retracted his hands, placing one over his chest "I'M NOT SHRIMPY, YOU'RE JUST ABOVE THE AVERAGE HEIGHT"

"(Y/n) has a point you know Asta, you're shrimpy as hell" Yami laughed and placed a hand ontop of Asta's head, picking him up as Asta flailed about.

"Rest up (Y/n), we owe you our necks for helping us back there. But don't acting all friendly, this is just temporary" Yami gave a menacing smirk while (Y/n) scoffed smugly, "I'll be seeing you guys then, next time we can all enjoy ourselves without a sudden battle on our shoulders"

"Agreed" Yami shook Asta a little before dropping him "We'll take our leave, see you later bozo" Yami turned and walked down the hall, Asta standing up and waving hurriedly 'goodbye' while he caught up to Yami.

(Y/n) shook his head with a smile before entering Julius's office, closing the door behind him out of respect as he saw the blonde sitting there, a nervous expression painted over his usual goofy one.

"Something wrong Juls?" (Y/n) hummed, walking over to Julius's side and sitting on the desk, eyeing the Wizard King who hand both hands curled over his mouth in thought, but the nick-name caught him off gaurd, making him perk up and turn to the (h/c)-ette with wide eyes "Juls?"

"Not a good nickname? damn, no wonder that was Dai's thing" (Y/n) rubbed the back of his neck "My previous lover had a knack of nick-names, I can only think of teasing ones so I'm not as good as he was"

Julius sat there, previous worry and anxiety being washed over by a sense of humbleness as his cheeks turn a light red in a form of embarrassment. (Y/n) opened up to him! his lips formed into a line as he tensed before breaking into nerbous jambles.

"No no! I think it's a nice nick-name!" Julius spoke up, a bit more high-pitched than what he expected as his voice cracked at the end.

(Y/n) chuckled at the voice crack, bringing his hand down from his neck "Dai was a great person, he stumbled a lot with his words and god he was a mess of energy. He confessed right after we got our grimoires, I guess he was impatient really"

"A man? was he pretty- Or buff I don't judge on tastes!" Julius spoke up, stars in his eyes, he had only met a few handful of people who liked the same gender, and they were very quiet about their relationships so he never really knew their interests or how they confronted their love interests.

He never thought that (Y/n) would even have previous relationship experience seeing that he was awfully quiet.

"He was about Nozel's height, maybe an inch taller, I think I'd say he was pretty but in the masculine manner- you get it?" (Y/n) turned to look at Julius who nodded vigorously, "Long brown hair that he had in a low ponytail most of the time and light blue eyes, he was a great person" his voice softened a bit at the end, a small frown appearing on his face.

"A-ah! I'm sorry if I pushed you too far" Julius apologized,

"It's alright, I was the one that started talking about him anyways. I have to try and move on at least a little now, I made a promise with him after all"

"What kind of promise?" Julius quirked an eyebrow, curious now after (Y/n) gave him a little smile.

"He wished to become the Wizard King and I'd be his right hand man, but when. . . he died we promised, that I'd continue on my half of the deal. One day Julius, I'll become someone the next strongest can depend on" (Y/n) smile was rememberful, seeing that he had this look in his eyes that Julius couldn't put his finger on it, but it seemed fond.

The blonde couldn't help but crack his own smile, "I wish you the best of luck then (Y/n)"

"Not even a 'you already show promise' or some shit? damn, that hurts" (Y/n) teased as Julius pouted "But you got the jist! I'm supposed to be fair with everyone"

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(Y/n) had pulled a chair up and sat down next to Julius while he worked on some of the papers, his head resting against Julius's shoulder, arms crossed over his chest as he took a small nap while he waited for Julius to finish up.

He had gotten an explanation on the Black Bulls mission on recovering that stone that the Eye of the Midnight sun was after, and in return he talked a little more about Dai to Julius.

"(Y/n), how did you learn you liked men?" Julius asked quietly, hoping that he wouldn't irritate the half-asleep man too much.

The only form of irritation was a small grumble as (Y/n) hummed "I also like women and whoever inbetween, I learnt this all loosely before getting with Dai who confirmed that indeed, I also like men" He replied, voice a bit muffled as he kept his eyes closed, "And you Julius? no questions on ass?"

"I'm not sure myself, I've never dug myself into the relationship scene so I don't know if I actually like only women. I have been questioning but I think Wizard King duties may be more important" Julius gave a small laugh, continuing writing on the papers before he huffed "Except the paper work, the paper work is boring. I'd much rather be fighting some wild boar instead of this or watching the new recruits during their missions. HAVE YOU SEEN MIMOSAS MAGIC YET?? IT'S AMAZING FOR SUPPORT!!"

"Shut up, I'm trying to sleep" (Y/n) grunted, nudging into Julius's shoulder a bit to shut him up.

Julius caught on at the shove and adjusted his fluffy collar so (Y/n) could use it as a better pillow "There, I'll be done in a bit just hang on a little longer"

"A'ight blondie. . ." (Y/n) nudged up higher into Julius's neck to reach the little fluffy pillow, feelings as Julius gently patted his head before he went back to writing.

🔖

(Y/n) sat there on the couches, looking over the fruits on the table temptingly.

There was a kiwi. . . and some spiky pink thing that looked yummy. . .

"Thoose are for decoration you know" Marx spoke up after seeing that (Y/n)'s eyes had yet to leave the decorative fruits on the coffee table. Taking a sip from his tea cup as he watched (Y/n)'s expression contort into one of doubt and annoyance.

"But they're still perfectly fine fruit"

"Yes, but that's besides the point that they are DECORATIVE and for the lower ranking guests" Marx explained, eyebrows furrowing in response to (Y/n) retort.

"Well I am lower ranking and your guest, so I'll be taking some" (Y/n) reached his hand out to grab the kiwi and whatever the pink thing was, only for his hand to be slapped away by Marx's.

"OW OW OKAY- OKAY!" (Y/n) pulled his hand away and rubbed it gently,

"You will not eat out the filthy bowl! If you want fruit, we'll go get you PROPER fruit seeing that you are The Wizard King's guest and not anyone else's!" Marx snapped at him, taking a sip from his tea again.

(Y/n) already held the kiwi, peeling it as he bit into it carelessly, chewing loudly and obnoxiously to annoy Marx "Om nom nom, what were you saying mushroom?" His bandaged hands stung a bit from the acidic food, but he had now satisfied his little thief's itch in taking the food.

"(Y/N) I JUST TOLD YOU TO-"

"OM NOM NOM, SORRY MUSHROOM YOU GOTTA SPEAK UP I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER MY CHEWING" (Y/n) interrupted him, taking another bite from the kiwi as Marx seemed to shake in rage. Tea spilling from his cup as he slammed it against the table, "I'LL GET YOU AN ORDER OF FRESH FRUIT SO SPIT THAT TRASH OUT!"

"THIS IS FRESH FRUIT, WHAT ARE YOU ON EVEN?!" (Y/n) argued back, taking another bite from the kiwi.

"YOU ARE A SPECIAL GUEST, YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO EACH DISPLAY FOOD!"

"IT'S OUT HERE FOR THE PICKING, WHY NOT?!"

"Are you two finished arguing?" The blonde who had walked around to corner to take (Y/n) out to the city for a little was somewhat terrified by the energy in the room. Julius gave a nervous smile when his supervisor and the crow knight turned to look at him.

"Julius, I can eat the fruit in this bowl, right?" (Y/n) asked threateningly, making Julius's nervous smile widen "Um- yes?"

"KING JULIUS HE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO-"

"HAH, HIS RULE, I JUST FOLLOW 'EM MUSHROOM TOP" (Y/n) mockingly laughed, biting into the kiwi again to annoy Marx who gripped on the chair's arm rests.

(Y/n) reached over and grabbed whatever the pink spiky thing was, picking it up as he ran over to Julius when Marx stood up abruptly to stop him. "Make a run for it blondie!" (Y/n) laughed as he ran past the confused Wizard King who turned to look at his supervisor who glared at him darkly.

"R-right behind you (Y/n)!" Julius gave a shaky laugh as he ran after the (h/c)-ette who was running through the corridors of the castle.

"NOT SO FAST YOU TWO" Marx yelled out as he tried to catch up, but quickly lost sight of the pair after losing them on the 5th turn.

Slowly coming to a stop, Marx looked left and right in confusion, he was right behind them both. . .

(Y/n) his behind the wall nearby with Julius next to him, backs pressing tightly against the wall as they both held their breath.

"Did we lose him?" Julius asked quietly, just for Marx's face to come into view when he peered over the wall, just to see the (h/c) and blonde both standing there.

"OUT THE WINDOW" (Y/n) tucked the weird pink fruit into his pouch hurriedly as he then grabbed Julius's wrist, pulling him towards the open window as the pair jumped out.

"(Y/N) THIS IS A BAD IDE-" Julius was cut off as he was pulled out the window along with (Y/n), screaming as the sight of the ground made him worry, of course he could stop it at last moment but he didn't need to when a large dying bush grew under them, covering the impact as Julius fell on it.

"Up and at 'em Julie, before Marx goes ahead and talk our ear off" (Y/n) helped Julius up, running through the garden and out through the back of the castle and into the capital.

God, the Wizard King really did choose a very odd person to befriend this time.

"Don't pull me, you'll rip my arm offfff" Julius whined, making (Y/n) only chuckle in reply.

🔖

"GAH! The ocean looks amazing" Vanessa sighed, lowering her drink from her lips as she looked out to the sea before her.

"(Y/n) might've liked it seeing that he's always been living by the borders" Noelle noted, humming as she sat next to Vanessa on another chair.

"The kid's from the border?" Yami asked a bit surprised, the (h/c)-ette seemed close to Julius so he would've thought he was more of a noble for having such a connection with the Wizard King. He took another drag from his cigarette, watching as everyone slowly walked over to the shade to take a breather from running around all day.

The sun was setting, they'd probably have to go inside to their inn soon by the looks of things.

"I heard (Y/n)'s name! what are we talking about?" Asta came running over, sitting down next to Noelle on an opposite pull out chair.

"Nothing much, I just think he would've liked the ocean. . . we should bring him one day" Noelle explained with a small hum, looking out to the ocean as the sun slowly hid behind the waves.

"He doesn't seem like an water person though" Magna spoke up, scratching the back of his head in confusion since he had yet to meet (Y/n) properly unlike some of his teammates.

"I agree with Magna, but I think he'd still enjoy it, maybe just look over the ocean and indulge in it or something. He seems like a pretty neutral person, I don't think he'd be a fan of getting in the water but surely he probably would like the sounds of waves" Luck spoke up, walking over next to his friend as he walked over to the stools where Yami was and sat down on one.

"Calm and neutral?! DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT DESTRUCTION HE BROUGHT DURING THE ATTACK ON THE CAPITAL?! APPARANTLY HE EXPLODED THE CORPSES FROM THE INSIDE OUT, RIGHT ASTA? Y-YOU CAN BACK ME UP HERE, NOELLE??" Finral stuttered a bit, how did theese people think that (Y/n) was calm and rational? He seemed like a lose canon, and from what he saw in the caves he surely did more than simply paralyze the enemies.

Asta was quiet, eyes wide now as he eyed his senior in disbelief "(Y/n) never meant to be seen like that. . . He has his own issues, don't pry him like that" Asta replied, growingly glaring at Finral.

"He's a calm person, the capital incident is something he is trying to grow over so I will not be listening to some noble! Didn't he save your asses anyways?" Noelle crossed her arms, defending the (h/c)-ette along with Asta.

"But (Y/n) is terrifying! When I left from under the tables to head out towards the kitchen, I came face to face with him. His gaze looks dead, it's terrifying!" Charmy complained, taking another bite from her watermelon.

"When Marie talks about him, she describes him as calm and teasing, sometimes a bit vulgar but nothing she doesn't mind. From what I've known, he's just bad at expression so his actions may seem double faced, he's not a bad person" Gauche stood up for the other 19 year old aswell, surprising the rest of the members.

"You. . . care about someone other than Marie for once?" Vanessa quirked an eyebrow, a small smirk dancing on her face when Gauche scoffed "Marie sees him more as family unlike her view on Asta, so she's rather fond of him, and if she likes having him over and he's not going to get between me and my little sister then I will defend him"

"I think he just likes him and he's being stubborn" Magna whispered to Vanessa, making the older woman stiffle a laugh.

"(Y/n) helped us out alot in the dungeon, he took hits for both Mimosa and Noelle instead of taking cover" Luck leaned over, "so I think he's a good person!"

Finral's eyebrow twitched, seeing that it was only him and Charmy being skeptical of (Y/n).

"I'm still neutral on him, so we'll just see I guess" Vanessa hummed and took a sip from her drink again.

"Same, I still don't understand the hype for him just yet" Magna rubbed the back of his neck, "Maybe one day though, he sounds like a good person so far"

Grey puffed out some smoke, not much of a reply, but atleast it was something.

"Fine! I might give him another chance is everyone is so sure about him, but I'm not giving him any of my food at first, I'm scared if he makes me into whatever his birds are!" Charmy bit into her watermelon angrily, furrowing up as Asta gave a little fist bump to himself in success, now he only had to help show Finral that (Y/n) was a good person!

"Oooh, is the Captain smiling?" Vanessa had caught sight of what she could only guess was Yami smiling.

"The heats gotten to your head woman" Yami replied with a gruff, a hand covering his mouth with the cigarette between his fingers, hiding his growing smile.

Honestly, the (Y/n) (L/n) brat was a breath of fresh air, he wasn't what they usually had at the black bulls, a calm and more light hearted person who didn't go screaming or was cinstantly passed out drunk. Unlike Nacht who was still out on his mission, he wasn't always fake smiles and up to arguing against any of them as often, he brushed them off more.

And unlike Zora, he didn't go mocking everyone or playing the 'vigilante' of the whole kingdom.

He was calm, collected, teasing, a little reckless, independent and had this spark of subtle mystery but that wasn't enough to make you doubt that he was some sort of criminal.

Obviously, he heard from Fuegoleon and Nozel that he didn't like keeping still or being forced into doing things in groups so he guessed he had some similarities to thoose other two.

"Captain Yami is smiling?!" Asta gasped

"Zip it brat, or I'll throw you across the sea."

🔖

William sat there with (Y/n) sleeping, head rested on his lap tiredly,

It's already been a week and (Y/n) went back at over working himself. And since his next rotations was with the Golden Dawn until Charlotte was able to finish up some work with the barracks, (Y/n) had been staying for a couple extra days.

In that time, he hadn't been assigned missions since Charlotte could suddenly call for him, so he's gone back to the training that Fuegoleon and Nozel called 'toxic'

His hands weren't getting any better, William wouldn't be surprised if they already had started to scar earlier this week. (Y/n) kept on reassuring him that he was close, and that he'd be able to figure out how to mold his mana more, but the Captain was still skeptical.

It was late at night when he found (Y/n) passed out on in the living quarters where the Golden Dawn members would meet up usually to socialize after breakfast or lunch.

He took the opportunity to sit down next to the (h/c)-ette and let him rest his head on his lap instead of the couch, too worried to wake him seeing that his sleep schedule has recently been rather messy.

William has found (Y/n) in the kitchens at 4 am cooking himself dinner, then at 2 pm eating breakfast, and somewhere between 7 and 8 pm eating lunch.

It was worrisome, so seeing him fast asleep on the couches was atleast somewhat relieving.

He was skeptical on waking up (Y/n) for this reason, in fear that he may not go back to sleep. So William stayed there, hands gently rubbing into (Y/n)'s scalp as he watched him shift in his lap and wrap his arms around his torso, nudging his face into William's jacket to get comfortable.

Well, guess that the Captain will be stuck there for a little while huh.

Sighing out a smile, William continued to thread his fingers through (Y/n)'s scalp, holding him close as he lifted his right leg over his legt, crossing them to get comfortable himself.

Maybe (Y/n)'s worry had been about the sudden mission during his break, maybe it left him nervous, he wasn't sure what was going on with him so far.

Maybe. . . Licht had-

"William?"

The drowsy voice woke Willian from his thoughts, looking down to see (Y/n) looking up at him in return, rubbing and eye to wake up before grumbling "Did I sleep in? sorry, I'll get up-"

"You can come sleep with me if it makes things easier" William interrupted (Y/n) mid-sentence, making the crow knight freeze up before slowly blinking a bit in a way of asking if he heard that right.

"But you're the Captain-"

"And you haven't slept properly in days, this is the most relaxed I've seen you in a while" William hummed and smiled, "Come on, I don't trust that if I leave you alone you'll go back to bed"

The masked man stood up as (Y/n) sat up and made no real attempt to follow behind, soon to be grabbed his collar and dragged along "-Or you'll act all stubborn, I guess that could've been a possibility too" Willian smile menacingly to (Y/n), who gulped before catching up next to William.

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🔖

_"Do you ever wonder why your grimoire is so. . ._

**_Empty?"_ **

(Y/n) sat there in the abyss of a room, the dark atmosphere making it feel cold and lonesome other than the distorted apperance of what (Y/n) could only guess was what he had been making contact with.

Their face seemed to be stuck in a large, unnatural smile as it showed off all it's teeth. The actual face was faded into the black abyss, so (Y/n) couldn't figure out if it had a body or not.

But he didn't like the look it had in it's eyes, as if it were hungry and predatory as it stood over his head, looking down at him.

"I don't care about my grimoire, why even fucking talk to me if you know I couldn't care to lend an ear to listen"

His words sounded more like he were stating a fact, (e/c) eyes glaring back towards the eerie presence.

_"You've had a taste of Dionysus, what stops you of wanting to learn who your birth parents are, where your really from, what your grimoire really is"_

**"Well surely not from you, seeing that you are a demon, aren't you?"** (Y/n) growled, raising his gaze to glare at the floating face that was caught off guard.

_". . . Are you sure about that? A demon? that's-"_

**"The exact situation, is it not?"**

_"So you've caught me red handed, alright I'll give you that. Don't you want to know WHY you have contact with a demo-"_

**"I want to know how to kill you."**

It grew quiet, the smile that was on the demon's face contorted into one of shock, the smile lowering.

It was (Y/n)'s turn to take on the smile, mouth contorting upwards into a wide inhuman smile that read 'menace' to whoever caught sight **"I'm not curious on my past, I took this grimoire out of a desperate need and now that I know that it's a mistake, there is no way to go back seeing that I'm stuck in this cycle"**

(Y/n) took a few steps forward, making the demon seemingly step back, this going forth as (Y/n) laughed **"I'm done with everything, if you and I are stuck with each other for a while then why try to even converse with me knowing that I want**

**NOTHING**

**to do with you, or your little demons?"**

The demon took a turn to avoid walking backwards anymore, smile turning back up but the hint of the nervous expression seemed to be ingraved into it's face.

_"Seems like we can't plant a deal then- why don't we just talk then, hm?"_

**"I don't want to talk, I want you dead, and gone. I'm not in the mood for making any more deals that might be the death of me, I'm fine with what I have already, so leave"**

_"Your grimoire was the previous journal from another world-"_

(Y/n) stopped walking, pausing in his tracks, a journal explained a few things but how was it his grimoire now?

The demon smile turned back to it's manipulative one as it leaned over (Y/n)'s shoulder _"It was your parent's journal, your biological parent's journal that they wrote in._

_They wrote pleas to escape, to leave, you see they were the-"_

**"Shut the fuck up"**

(Y/n) snapped, turned around to try and punch the demon. Only to find himself gasping and sitting up from an unfamiliar bed.

What was that dream?

The sun was gently seeping into the room through the curtains. 

"William. . ." (Y/n) mumbled, looking to his sides to see that William wasn't there, the bed was only warm from where he was, which meant that William had gotten up way earlier.

The room was tidy, his layer robes laying on a chair with his grimoire. 

He remembered being coaxed into a sleep last night by William, but never to a chance to see under his mask. He must've fallen asleep afterwards-

"Excuse me, (Y/n)?" 

Hearing knocking from the door way, (Y/n) quickly pulled on his clothes, shoes, knight robe and holstered his grimoire to walk over to the door and opened it while rubbing his eyes to wake up properly.

"Oh, hey Yuno. What's up?" 

". . . why are sleeping in Captain Vengeance's room???" Yuno's blank expression changed into one of 'the hell'

"I passed out on the couches and he dragged me here to sleep since my door was locked" (Y/n) lied straight through his teeth, expression unchanging.

"Oh" Yuno's mouth turned to a little 'o' 

"Is that all?" (Y/n) asked with a little amused smirk as he leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms, was that all what Yuno wanted to know?

"Do you want to accompany me to breakfast? since we haven't gotten breakfast together in a while, I think it would've been nice" Yuno offered, 

"And you asked Vengeance where I was only for breakfast?" (Y/n) scoffed with his smirk widening teasingly,

"Y-Yes??" Yuno replied with uncertainty, now that he thought about it, it did sound a bit over the top to asking the Captain on where the other is just to go get breakfast at such a later time.

"Lovely, come on then" (Y/n) stepped out the room and close the door behind him, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked down the hallway. Yuno right to his side as he seemed a bit happier than his usual stoic mood.

Mimosa and Klaus caught up to them and joined for breakfast. 

(Y/n) really would give up his whole life for the sake of everyone he's met so far.

In a blink of an eye, he was willing die for their sakes.

Really, it surprises him how much of an utter fool he has grown for them all.

The Black Bulls would be getting home today, he'd have to go see them.

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4600 words  
unedited


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